By Swift Reporter
Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom Prime Minister Andrew Kirungi Byakutaga has rejected an order by Chief Prince and Okwiri Eng. Fred Mugenyi Rucunya to vacate office, insisting that the authority to appoint or dismiss him remains with the living Omukama, Solomon Gafabusa Agutamba Rukirabasaija Iguru I.
Rucunya, speaking for the Babiito ruling clan, has given Byakutaga until October 15, 2026, to leave office and hand over kingdom property, arguing that the Prime Minister’s tenure expired and that the Royal Commission had no authority to extend it.
But Byakutaga has challenged the basis of the ultimatum, putting the authority of the Omukama at the centre of his response.
“The Omukama is ALIVE. As long as he lives, only he can appoint and sack the Prime Minister,” Byakutaga said.
The Prime Minister argued that he was appointed by Omukama Iguru on January 15, 2018, when the King was actively exercising his responsibilities, and that his appointment cannot simply be overturned by the Okwiri or the Babiito ruling clan.
Byakutaga’s response directly challenges Rucunya’s position that the Okwiri, as head of the Babiito, can assume responsibility for kingdom affairs when the Omukama is unable to actively preside over them.
He questioned where the Okwiri derives the authority to remove a Prime Minister who was appointed by the Omukama.
The Prime Minister also challenged the argument that a decision by the Babiito ruling clan automatically constitutes a decision of the entire Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom.
Bunyoro has about 72 clans, Byakutaga noted, arguing that the clans are represented through the Rukurato, the kingdom’s parliament.
“How then does it become the role of the Babiito Clan to appoint and sack the PM?” he asked.
The latest confrontation follows a long-running disagreement over Byakutaga’s tenure.
He was appointed Prime Minister in January 2018, with his initial term expiring in October 2023. His tenure was later extended to June 30, 2024, while a further one-year extension was granted by the Royal Commission in a June 27, 2024 letter.
Rucunya has disputed that extension, arguing that the Royal Commission lacked the authority to extend the Prime Minister’s tenure.
Byakutaga, however, maintains that the kingdom’s leadership cannot be altered through unilateral action by the ruling clan or the Okwiri.
The disagreement previously resulted in competing administrative arrangements.
In 2024, Rucunya and the Babiito-backed faction moved to remove Byakutaga and installed Dr Baltazar Kyamanywa Kasirivu Atwooki as interim prime minister, together with an interim Cabinet and leadership of the Rukurato.
Byakutaga rejected the arrangement, maintaining that only the Omukama had the authority to appoint or dismiss kingdom officials.
The rival administration did not take control of the kingdom offices after security was deployed at the administration premises.
Byakutaga has now also pointed to efforts by the central government to find a solution to the wider institutional dispute.
He referred to a June 2026 stakeholder meeting chaired by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, which brought together ministers, MPs, religious leaders, cultural leaders and other prominent figures from Bunyoro.
According to Byakutaga, the meeting sought legal guidance from the Attorney General and Solicitor General on how to address the absence of a functioning Cabinet and Rukurato.
He argued that while the kingdom needs these institutions to operate effectively, he cannot simply appoint them without the required authority.
The Prime Minister has also urged Rucunya and other kingdom leaders to focus on resolving the institutional disagreements through dialogue rather than competing appointments and directives.
The latest ultimatum has nevertheless placed the two sides on another collision course, with Rucunya maintaining that Byakutaga must leave office by October 15 and Byakutaga insisting that the Okwiri has no authority to dismiss him.
At the centre of the standoff is a fundamental disagreement over the distribution of authority within Bunyoro: Rucunya says the Babiito and Okwiri have a traditional responsibility to safeguard and administer the kingdom when the Omukama is unable to do so, while Byakutaga insists that the King’s authority remains intact because he is still alive.
For now, Byakutaga remains defiant, making it clear that he does not recognise the Okwiri’s ultimatum as a lawful or culturally valid basis for his removal.
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