Tooro Kingdom Chief Prince Charles Kamurasi appears to have breached a government-backed agreement that expressly barred any succession activity during the burial of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV after he used Saturday's funeral to declare Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma the new king of Tooro.
The declaration at St John's Cathedral in Fort Portal came despite a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Government of Uganda, a representative of Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, the Musuuga and a representative of the royal Babiito clan specifically to ensure that Oyo's burial was not turned into a platform for settling the bitter succession dispute.
Under the agreement, the parties committed themselves to a "peaceful, dignified and respectful burial" at the Karambi Royal Tombs and expressly agreed that the burial "shall not be disrupted or used to advance any succession dispute."
The MOU was even more explicit on succession.
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"No succession-related ritual, declaration, installation, proclamation or other act intended to recognize or advance any claimant to the throne shall take place at the Karambi Royal Tombs during the burial," it states.
Yet, speaking during the burial, Kamurasi announced Kijanangoma as King Edward Rukidi Nabongo I.
"I now wish to state to the people of Tooro and Uganda and inform you that we have a new king," he said.
"The princes and princesses sat under the Musuuga and spoke as one and elected a new king. I inform you that that is King Edward Rukidi Nabongo I."
Kamurasi insisted that the process had followed Ugandan law and Tooro traditions.
"I also inform you that in all we did, we followed the laws of Uganda, following the norms and traditions of this land," he said.
His declaration came after the MOU had also prohibited any party or person acting on its behalf from undertaking or encouraging "any subversive, unauthorized or unilateral action concerning succession during the burial."
The agreement further required that Oyo's tomb be securely closed and locked immediately after burial, with the keys placed in the custody of a neutral government minister agreed upon by the parties.
The keys were not to be released, copied or used without the agreement of the parties or a lawful court order.
The MOU was signed on September 12, the day of the burial, by representatives of the four parties, with Kuteesa Mary Kamuli named as the neutral government minister and custodian of the keys.
The government's position was also reflected in an opinion issued by Attorney General Dr Sam Mayanja on the same day.
Mayanja said President Yoweri Museveni had directed him to advise government on the succession question following Oyo's death.
After examining the Constitution, the Institution of Traditional or Cultural Leaders Act and the suspended Tooro Constitution, the Attorney General concluded that Oyo's will should guide the succession.
"King Oyo's will should be followed. Its validity can only be challenged in the courts of laws," Mayanja advised.
He also noted that Oyo's 2022 will named his biological son as heir if he survived the king and was lawfully recognised as his son.
The will provided Prince Komwiswa Yoweri, Kamurasi's son, as an alternative heir only if Oyo had no son able to succeed him, or if his son died before assuming the throne, became permanently incapacitated or was otherwise unable to succeed.
Against that unresolved dispute, Mayanja advised that the traditional ritual in which nine coffee beans are thrown into the king's grave by his successor "should be suspended pending the determination of the succession question."
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The Attorney General said the burial itself could proceed because there was no legal impediment to it.
That distinction was central to the government's attempt to separate burying Oyo from choosing his successor.
Queen Mother Kemigisa and other members of the royal family kept to that position during the funeral, with Kemigisa using her address to mourn her son rather than endorse a successor.
Kamurasi, however, departed from the agreed script by making the succession declaration at the very ceremony the MOU had sought to shield from the dispute.
His final words after declaring Kijanangoma were emphatic:
"The king is there."
The declaration has now opened a fresh question over the Musuuga's compliance with an agreement he was himself a party to -- and over the consequences of turning Oyo's burial into the succession event government had expressly agreed to prevent.
