Tooro Queen Mother Best Kemigisa has appealed for calm and a dignified burial for her late son, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, as a bitter dispute over his succession threatens to deepen divisions within the kingdom.
Kemigisa urged those fighting over the throne to allow the royal family and the people of Tooro time to mourn before turning their attention to the succession question.
“To those fighting over the throne please, there will be time for all of that. Let us grieve and bury my son King Oyo… Please allow us to send him home with the dignity and respect he deserves,” she said.
The Queen Mother said King Oyo’s will was read to members of the royal family and government representatives the morning after his death.
She also raised concern over events that followed the reading, saying members of the clan announced a new king later that evening, while royal guards were removed and troops deployed, restricting the movement of members of the royal family.
Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire has backed the calls for calm, saying legal, customary and systemic questions surrounding the succession should be addressed after King Oyo is laid to rest.
“On one hand a group has announced a new king, on the other there is a will left by the late Omukama containing his expressed wishes regarding succession,” Rwomiire said in a statement.
He questioned whether the succession contest was appropriate while preparations were still underway to bury the former monarch.
“These are serious matters that must ultimately be addressed. But as Batooro we must ask whether this is the right moment and whether the manner in which this is unfolding honours the king whose body we have not yet laid to rest,” he added.
King Oyo, who ruled Tooro for 31 years after ascending the throne at the age of three, died on August 27, 2026, aged 34, while receiving cancer treatment in the United States.
His state funeral and burial at the Karambi Royal Tombs are scheduled for Saturday, September 12, 2026.
The date would have marked the 31st anniversary of his coronation as the world’s youngest reigning monarch.