Tooro succession must follow the law – Justice Minister

The succession of a new Tooro king must comply with the law before the government can recognise and gazette the new monarch, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Norbert Mao has said.

Only then, Mao said, would the government publish the name of a new Tooro king in the Uganda Gazette, the official government publication.

Speaking at a local radio station in Gulu city on Sunday, Mao described the rivalry surrounding the Tooro throne as concerning and urged the competing factions to resolve their differences through the established legal framework.

“Installing a king is solely dependent on the tradition of a specific tribe. If there is a dispute, the law spells it out clearly. If there is rivalry, that rivalry must be completed, then your name is published in the Gazette,” Mao said.

He said the gazettement of a cultural leader is an important step in completing the formal recognition process.

The remarks come amid a dispute over the succession following the death of Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died in the United States on August 27, aged 34, after reigning for more than three decades.

Oyo, who ascended the throne in 1995 at the age of three, was buried at the Karambi Royal Tombs in Fort Portal over the weekend. The succession dispute emerged after the Babiito royal clan announced Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma as Oyo’s successor last Wednesday.

However, some members of the royal family, including Queen Mother Best Kemigisa and Princess Ruth Komuntale Nsemere, rejected the selection, arguing that the late king had left a purported will setting out his preferred successor.

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