By Frank Kamuntu
The dispute over the succession to the Tooro throne has deepened after Prince Patrick Mpuuga, son of Omusuuga Prince Charles Kayondo Kamurasi, publicly rejected his father’s role in the proclamation of Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma as the new King.
Mpuuga, who spoke at a press conference on Thursday, sided with Princess Ruth Komuntale and Princess Elizabeth Bagaya in arguing that the succession should be guided by the Will left by the late Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. He said the document, which was signed in 2022, should take precedence over earlier succession arrangements cited by the Babiito royal clan.
The Babiito clan selected Kijanangoma following the reported decision by Prince George Desmond Kamurasi, who had initially emerged as the preferred candidate, to decline the throne. The clan has maintained that its decision was based on traditional succession arrangements as well as provisions contained in the Will of the late King George David Rukidi Kamurasi III.
However, Oyo’s family has strongly contested that position, maintaining that the late king left his own instructions on succession and that those wishes should determine who takes over the throne.
Mpuuga said the 2022 Will left by Oyo effectively supersedes previous royal documents relied upon in the selection of a successor.
“It is very clear that the King’s will supersedes any will that existed in the past,” Mpuuga said. “Therefore those people who are invoking the will of our grandfather, whom I speak of with all due respect, no longer stand because His Majesty Agutamba Oyo Nyimba Amooti left his own will which is very clear.”
According to Mpuuga, Oyo’s Will identified his son as the first heir to the throne and provided for alternative successors should the prince be unable to assume the crown.
The disagreement therefore goes beyond the identity of Kijanangoma and has opened a wider debate over which royal succession framework should prevail following Oyo’s death.
Mpuuga also made a significant claim regarding the leadership of the Babiito royal clan, saying the late king had expressed an intention for him to take over the role of Musuuga, or Prince Regent, from his father.
“Also in my conversation with His Majesty, he asked me to take on that mantle of Musuuga. This might not have seen the light of day as he wished, but that conversation I had with him, although it did not materialise,” Mpuuga said.
He said Oyo had been interested in giving younger members of the royal family a greater role in preserving Tooro’s cultural heritage and ensuring that traditional knowledge was passed on to future generations.
Mpuuga explained that the initiative was intended to ensure continuity within the royal institution by involving younger members rather than leaving cultural responsibilities entirely to the older generation.
“That process was already on because we all understand that we are of the same generation and for the continuity of our culture and the knowledge to continue… that this should not stop with the parents alone but passed down to children… that was the idea behind that effort,” he said.
Although the plan did not materialise during Oyo’s lifetime, Mpuuga said he remained committed to upholding what he described as the late king’s wishes.
“Unfortunately it has not seen the light of day, but I also stand here as a Mubiito to stand and say that with the will of the king that it must prevail,” he added.
The latest intervention adds another influential voice to the growing opposition against the reported proclamation of Kijanangoma, with members of Oyo’s family insisting that the succession process should not be considered settled.
Mpuuga also appealed to security agencies to intervene as the dispute unfolds, stressing that the royal family was seeking a peaceful resolution rather than confrontation.
“We call upon the enforcement agencies out there that they need to take this on. It is not that we want war or mayhem; we want peace. We are not trying to plant seeds of discord,” he said.
The succession dispute now places the late King Oyo’s 2022 Will, traditional Babiito succession practices and the competing claims within the royal family at the heart of the transition.
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