Tooro Kingdom Names TV Anchor as New King, But Family Disputes Succession Choice
A traditional Ugandan kingdom has selected a television news anchor to succeed King Oyo Nyimba, who died last month at the age of 34, though the choice has already drawn a public challenge from within the late king’s own family over how the succession was decided.
At a press conference in the kingdom’s capital, Fort Portal, on Wednesday, September 9, the royal clan’s succession committee announced it had chosen Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a news anchor and editor at Uganda’s state-run broadcaster UBC, as the new monarch of the Tooro Kingdom in western Uganda. While Uganda operates as a constitutional republic, Tooro remains one of the country’s ancient traditional kingdoms, wielding significant cultural and social influence within the region despite having no formal role in national governance.
Oyo Nyimba, formally known as His Majesty the Omukama of Tooro, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, died on August 27 in the United States, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer. He had ascended to the throne in 1995 at just three years old, becoming, according to Guinness World Records, the world’s youngest reigning monarch at the time. Beyond his royal role, Oyo Nyimba served as a United Nations goodwill ambassador and was known for championing the fight against HIV and AIDS throughout his reign, which spanned more than three decades.
Hours after the succession committee’s announcement, Princess Ruth Komuntale, Oyo Nyimba’s only sister, held her own press conference rejecting the committee’s choice of Kijanangoma as the new king, saying she and her mother, Best Kemigisa, did not accept the decision. Komuntale said her brother had left behind a will explicitly naming his own son as next in line for the throne, with an alternative successor also specified in the event that his son was unable to assume the role. The precise details of how the succession committee’s selection process related to the terms of the late king’s will were not immediately clarified.
Oyo Nyimba’s body was returned to Uganda from the United States on Friday, September 4, with preparations under way for his burial on Saturday, September 5, at the royal tombs near his palace in Fort Portal. The dispute over his succession adds a further layer of complexity to the kingdom’s transition, coming at a moment when the Tooro community continues to mourn a monarch whose unusually early coronation had made him a figure of international curiosity long before his death, and whose decades on the throne were closely tied to public health advocacy work both within Uganda and internationally.
With the succession committee’s choice now publicly contested by members of the late king’s immediate family, questions remain over how the dispute will ultimately be resolved and what role, if any, formal legal or customary mechanisms might play in settling competing claims to the throne in the weeks ahead.
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