By Spy Uganda
Fort Portal: It must be a moment of squeaky bumtime for His Majesty Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV Amooti, the reigning King of Tooro Kingdom, who is set to be dethroned over multiple allegations among them including incompetence, disrespecting kingdom elders, but most importantly, those who enthroned him-[the Babiito Clan] as it was basically expressed at the recently concluded Empaango Ya Tooro-Coronation Ceremony.
READ ALSO: Ups & Downs Of World’s Youngest King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi 1V’s 25 Year Reign
Born 16 April 1992 to King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III and Queen mother, Best Kemigisa Akiiki. On top of disrespecting his elders, king Oyo is also accused of being too ‘dense’ to lead Batooro [as it will be summarized below] something that kingdom elders say they can’t tolerate. Some pundits in the kingdom last night intimated to this reporter King Oyo can’t even read eloquently a two paragraph speech written to him to simply read!
“This dense boy can’t be heir to our greatgrand fathers, who had their people at heart. They would command masses in the interest of keeping our motherland at the top. The first Tooro king, Nyaika even rebelled against his own father, the then King of Bunyoro Kitara to secede from it and created this Tooro Kingdom. So how do we allow this lousy, dense boy to step on our heads and we also soak our heads in the sand as if nothing is happening?! No no no… “charged one of the elderly Babiito royal members who spoke to this reporter via phone.
He continued thus; The likes of George Kamurasi, Kasunsu Nkwanzi, Kabumba Kyebambe, Rukidi Mpuuga, Patrick Kaboyo etc would talk with eloquence. They would command masses. See just last week Kabaka of Buganda commanded his people to go for covid-19 vaccination, I hope you saw what happened last Saturday. Can Oyo here in Tooro even command a village on anything? Does he even know his own native language he’s supposed to communicate through? A boy who can’t read just a written speech with ease?!”.
During the previous 26th coronation anniversary, Batooto faulted their King Oyo for failing to read what they termed a ‘senseless’ two paragraphed speech before his guests. And more embarrassing was the fact all this happened while live on NBS TV. Oyo looked completely soaked into the paper.
Back to the issue; Taking you deep into Tooro culture, in Tooro tradition, the head of the ruling clan, Omusuuga, in this case Musuuga Charles Kamurasi is the chief convener of the traditional Empaango (coronation) ceremony of their son, who is to be made king. In other words, a king can’t install himself! Once he does that,then he’s illegitimate. He seen as some one who imposes himself on subjects, yet he’s supposed to act ‘kingly’ and admirable by all.
Musuuga, in that traditional ceremony acts as the father of the house (palace) in Rutooro known as ‘Nyineeka’, and the king to be enthroned is a son, who is invited to coronation upon being chosen from the many princes or princesses by the ruling royal family, The Babiito clan.
“The king is simply chosen from many and awaits the family to confer him as the next King of the Palace. So the son can’t invite the head of the Palace and clan yet he’s just a son they chose to take on leadership. He’s supposed to simply present himself and allow the elders of the clan led by the Musuuga, who is his uncle to organize and enthrone or even dethrone him” added a source in the palace.
In fact, during the Empaango celebrations, Kamurasi sits at the immediate left-hand side of King Oyo Kabamba Iguru while Queen Mother Best Kemigisa sits on the right-hand side.
But guess what, apart from the past all 25 coronation ceremonies where Omusuuga Charles Kamurasi has been inviting his son Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi 1V to the coronation ceremony and even conduct all the cultural/ traditional rituals, this time round, it’s the ‘stubborn son’, Oyo Nyimba who wrote an invitation letter to Omusuuga Charles Kamurasi inviting him to simply come and spectate as his son celebrates his 26th coronation anniversary😂😂!
To make matters worse, all the cultural/traditional rituals that were supposed to be performed by Omusuuga were ignored and dustbinned, citing the ‘new normal’ of COVID-19 but in the real sense, the guy didn’t know which rituals were supposed to be performed since he had now kicked Omusuuga out of the organizing seat!
Now, to the elderly Batooro and Babiito, that was not a coronation but an abomination. By the way, before we forget, Musuuga Kamurasi didn’t honour that invitation, he simply didn’t attend, and all the rituals he was supposed to conduct as head of the clan, which actually qualifies the ceremony to be called ‘Empaango’ didn’t take place..yah that’s how far the 29-year-old Oyo is driving the kingdom!
Giving a comment about the entire saga of this year’s Empaango and why he declined the invitation, Musuuga noted that, it was a shock for him to receive an invitation card to the celebration on the eve of Empaango and wondered, “How can you invite a family head to his own party yet he is the chief celebrant. You are just wasting your stationery by sending me a card because I don’t require any invite to my own event,” commented Kamurasi in September, a day after the ceremony, adding that as the Omusuuga, King Oyo cannot reign without him.
He further explained that his absence at the palace during the 26th Empaango celebrations explains why some of the traditional rituals including the king sounding the royal drum, the king blessing the royal regalia, the king wearing the royal crown, among others, were not performed this time round, yet they’re key to the ceremony.
“Unfortunately, the mess is weakening the institution of the kingdom. For me who was instrumental in the restoration of this institution and setting up its structures, I couldn’t allow to be party to that mess,” he added.
Meanwhile, all the above and some we are yet to publish here prompted the elders to hold a top royal clan meeting that sat in Tooro aiming to ‘save their kingdom‘ that they say is becoming a public nuisance due to the ‘arrogancy’ of Oyo and his mother Best Kemigisa [said to be now the driver of Kingdom whereas the son is the conductor].
Why Do Babiito & Tooro Elders Want To Dethrone Their Son?
1- The latest accusation on the list apparently is that, just recently, two months ago (late August 202), the Gov’t of Uganda paid UGX2B to the Tooro Kingdom via the kingdom account. That was around 3pm. What surprised Tooro kingdom elders was to find out that the following day by 10am, this whole lot of money had reportedly been transferred from the kingdom account into the personal account of King Oyo! When elders asked how the money had been spent overnight, Oyo apparently answered back that the monies had been used to construct the perimeter wall fence around Kingdom Palace-Karuzika. Meanwhile, our spy has learnt on good grounds that the perimeter wall was a donation by the president through the UPDF engineering brigade, when King Oyo was poised to host all African Kings in Tooro-an event that was supposed to take place in 2020 but later flopped ”due to COVID-19”.
READ ALSO: Scandal After Scandal: Tooro King Oyo Accused Of Land Grabbing Again!
2-Oyo abdicated his Palace in Karuzika Tooro and is most times slaying in Kampala at his Buziga palace in Munyonyo.
3-Failure to respect the ruling clan elders who have since been blocked to meet him by Presidential Special Forces Command (SFC) security detail around him and reportedly, Queen mother Best Kemigisa’s instructions that his relatives want to harm him.
4- Embezzlement of Kingdom funds. Alot of money has no accountability.
5-Embezzlement of Kingdom lands and transfer of Kingdom titles into his and mother’s names.
6-Oyo, a kingdom leader doesn’t know his cultural norms and language. He can’t even speak his language for a minute.
7-Most Kingdom officials also allege that Oyo is ‘dense’. “The man can’t even memorize his own speech and read it well, he has to read word by word as was observed during Empaango ceremony. But also what does his speech really entail?” One member added.
Due to the above reasons, Elders have since fronted the following as possible successors to the throne of Tooro Kingdom;
The top royal clan meeting already mentioned above, identified and selected eight Babiito ruling clan members eligible to succeed cantankerous, disobedient King Oyo. The chosen qualify to take on the reign because, they too, just like King Oyo, are grandchildren of late King George Kamurasi and Rukidi. Key to note also, is the fact that this time round the clan members have left out prince David Kiijanangoma, who challenged Oyo’s throne in 2015. The clan elders alleged that Kiijanangoma betrayed his supporters when exchanged his support base with employment and financial benefits with the state, leaving the subjects who adopted him in the struggle much more divided that he found them. “Don’t bring that man back,Batooro will not trust again with their support. It will be hard to sale him again, instead, let’s pick his little known but calm young brother called Edward Kiijangoma,” one Mubiito submitted before the rest also supported the analysis. Edward is a journalist working with UBC as a news anchor.
Below is the list;
- Solomon Nyaika
- Goerge Kamurasi Mugenyi
- George Kamurasi Karamagi
- Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma
- Livingston Mpuuga
- Kepher Mugema
- Peter Kamurasi
- Ryan Oyo Karamagi. Watch the space for more updates!
