Kampala is preparing for one of the most emotionally charged national events in recent memory, as government and Tooro Kingdom officials finalise arrangements to receive the remains of His Royal Highness the Omukama of Tooro at Entebbe International Airport at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 4, following his death on August 28, 2026, after 33 years on the throne.
The announcement was made at a packed briefing at the Uganda Media Centre, where Executive Director Allan Kasujja opened proceedings by welcoming journalists to what he described as a difficult moment for the nation, noting that Ugandans were grieving the loss of a young, "iconic, promising and people oriented" monarch.
He was joined by the Minister in charge of the Presidency, Hon. Milly Babalanda, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, and Tooro Kingdom's Katikiro, Chief Armstrong Kanyerezi, who together laid out the scale of government involvement in what officials are calling a whole of government approach to the burial.
According to Babalanda, Cabinet first received a briefing on the King's passing on Monday, August 31, during which President Yoweri Museveni delivered lengthy tributes to the fallen monarch.
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The following day, Parliament suspended normal business to pay its own tribute, after which the Prime Minister convened an inter ministerial National Organising Committee bringing together the ministries of gender and culture, the Office of the President, agriculture, tourism, foreign affairs and internal affairs, alongside representatives of the royal family, to coordinate every aspect of the send off.
The logistics are extensive. Government has committed to covering costs at five separate sites, namely Entebbe Airport, the Royal Palace at Karuzika in Fort Portal, a royal residence in Kampala where mourners are being received, the Karambi Royal Tombs where the King will be laid to rest, and St. John's Cathedral, Fort Portal, where the final church service will be held.
Babalanda said the state has provided executive tents, chairs, mobile shelters, cleaning crews and public address systems, while the Chief of Defence Forces has arranged feeding for mourners gathered at Karuzika and the Kampala residence. The government has also met the cost of repatriating the King's remains from Dallas in the United States, through Nairobi and on to Uganda, expenses His Excellency the President is understood to have personally cleared through State House. A field health camp, run by the Ministry of Health, has also been set up to attend to mourners during the nine days of national mourning.
Security has been placed under a joint operation involving the Uganda People's Defence Forces and Uganda Police, who Babalanda said have been guarding both people and property connected to the royal family since the King's death was announced.
Government engineers from the UPDF's Engineer Brigade have also been renovating the Karuzika palace ahead of the arrival of dignitaries, who are expected to include delegations from royal families across Uganda and the wider African continent.
Speaking after the ministerial briefing, Mwenge South MP Kamuli Kutesa relayed a message of gratitude he said he had been personally instructed to deliver on behalf of the people of Tooro.
She thanked President Museveni for having effectively raised the King from the age of three, describing the President as a father figure who walked with the monarch through school, military training and eventually his illness.
Kutesa said the President would break with usual protocol on Friday by travelling to the airport himself to receive the King's remains, a gesture he said had deeply moved the kingdom. He also thanked the Chief of Defence Forces for the UPDF's support and urged Ugandans to turn out peacefully along the route as the convoy makes its way from Entebbe toward Fort Portal, while cautioning mourners to be careful on the roads given the scale of traffic expected.
Kutesa outlined the programme in detail. After landing at Entebbe, where the President and the Queen Mother, Best Kemigisa, together with Katikiro Kanyerezi and other officials will pay their respects, the body will be airlifted to Kyegegwa airstrip before continuing by road to Karuzika, arriving by evening.
The remains will then lie in state at the palace from Friday until September 12, a period of national mourning during which the public will be allowed to file past and pay their respects daily, alongside evening prayers.
The final requiem service will take place at St. John's Cathedral in Fort Portal on September 12, beginning promptly at 9 a.m., with the public required to be seated by 8 a.m. and VIPs entering only afterward. The service is scheduled to conclude by noon, after which mourners will process on foot from the cathedral to the Karambi Royal Tombs, a journey organisers expect will take roughly two hours given anticipated crowds.
Kutesa noted with visible emotion that the burial date falls painfully close to what would have been the King's 31st coronation anniversary, adding that while preparations for that celebration would have continued under different circumstances, the kingdom now faces a solemn duty rather than a festive one.
She appealed to the media and the public to treat the Queen Mother's grief with sensitivity, describing her loss as more profound than that felt by the wider nation.
The most pointed remarks of the briefing came from Katikiro Kanyerezi, who addressed swirling public speculation over the circumstances of the King's death and the earlier communication that he was abroad receiving education.
He told journalists that the information shared with the public at the time reflected the King's own express wishes, saying it had been his duty as a servant of the crown to protect his monarch's privacy and that he had done so faithfully.
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He said the King had remained confident of recovering in time for his coronation anniversary and had not wanted to alarm his people prematurely. Kanyerezi appealed for restraint from kingdom leaders, public officials, journalists and social media commentators alike, arguing that speculation and competing narratives during this period risked deepening divisions that would take years to heal. Other outstanding questions, he said, would be addressed only after the King had been laid to rest.
Kanyerezi closed by thanking President Museveni for his personal role in the King's upbringing and support during his final illness, along with Parliament, the Speaker, the National Organising Committee under General Kayanja Muhanga, and the wider Ugandan public for what he called an outpouring of love that would stay with the Tooro people long after the mourning period ends.
As Entebbe prepares for Friday's arrival, the coming nine days are expected to draw some of the largest crowds Fort Portal has seen in decades, testing the state's logistical planning even as it offers Ugandans a rare, unifying moment of collective mourning for a king whose 33 year reign is now closing under the weight of both grief and unanswered questions that officials say will wait their turn.
