A former television news anchor was crowned king of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom on 29 September, news agency Reuters said. Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma became the 13th monarch of the Batooro people ending a succession dispute, the agency said.
Kijanangoma succeeded King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, whose death last month from cancer at age 34 triggered a feud, reported. King Oyo Nyimba’s mother had said previously that her undisclosed son was entitled to the throne.
Uganda is a governed by an elected president. But four pre-colonial kingdoms remain as influential symbols of identity and heritage despite not having any political power.
Tooro is one of Uganda’s four main officially recognised historical kingdoms.
A 21-member committee from the royal Babiito clan selected Kijanangoma, 56 as the king. Kijanangoma is his predecesor Oyo Nyimba’s cousin.
Kijanangoma took the new royal name Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I in a traditional ceremony that included the slaughter of a bull and sprinkling of a hen’s blood in Tooro’s capital Fort Portal.
Nyabongo I walked to Karuziika Palace between midnight and 3 a.m. before taking part in a mock battle for the crown.
Oyo Nyimba died in the US on August 27 while receiving treatment for angiosarcoma, an aggressive cancer. He was buried on September 12 at Karambi Royal Tombs in Fort Portal.
He drew global attention in 1995 when enthroned at age 3 after the death of his father, with images of the toddler king in royal robes and a crown prompting widespread fascination.
The new king’s coronation took place despite objections from Oyo Nyimba’s mother, Best Kemigisa, and sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale. They say the late king left behind a young son and a will naming him as heir.
Oyo Nyimba was not married and was not publicly known to have children. The kingdom’s first mentioned a child in a statement announcing his death.
Born in 1970, Kijanangoma was raised in Kidukuru village in Fort Portal, about 300 kms from Kampala, the capital of Uganda. He graduated with a mass communication degree from Uganda’s prestigious Makerere University in 1999.
Thereafter, he worked as a broadcaster in a career spanning more than two decades, including in neighbouring Rwanda, with the (UBC), BBC report said
Now, he returns to the community he came from, this time as its leader.
Kijanangoma, the new king, has long been a familiar face in the East African nation, where for many he was known not as the heir to the throne, but as a storyteller: a long-serving anchor and editor at the state broadcaster, BBC reported.
He was among several people who were considered for the role, including Prince George Desmond Kamurasi, who plays football for one of the UK’s best-known amateur clubs.
Uganda’s traditional kings have no formal political authority, but they retain cultural influence and command significant loyalty in the communities they lead, BCC said.
Former colleagues of Nyabongo I at the state broadcaster UBC where he worked as a news anchor and editor, describe him as humble and down to earth.
“Everyone in Fort Portal is happy because of this new king. We are preparing. Women are ironing their masuka. Men are ironing their kanzus,” Tooro resident Elizabeth Kengonze told Reuters.
Over the weekend, relatives gathered at Karuziika Palace, his new home, accompanied by traditional drummers and dancers wearing calabashes and orange bark-cloth shawls.
(With inputs from Reuters, BBC)
