The election of a new Omukama of Tooro Kingdom has plunged the institution into a fresh storm, with competing claims, unanswered questions and growing suspicion threatening to deepen divisions among the Babiito royal clan and the wider kingdom.
Young Kamurasi (Circled) with his father and family
The Royal Succession Committee, chaired by Omusuuga Charles Akiiki Kamurasi, on Friday selected George Desmond Kamurasi, 36, as the successor to the late Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. But instead of immediately calming uncertainty over the future of the kingdom, the decision has opened a new and potentially more complicated chapter in Tooro’s succession saga.
The announcement, made publicly by journalist Andrew Mwenda before the formal proclamation by the kingdom’s cultural leadership, has triggered questions about who has the authority to announce a new king, why the process was conducted before the burial of King Oyo and what happened to another reported heir whose existence was disclosed by President Yoweri Museveni.
Desmond Kamurasi (Courtesy Photo)
The controversy has left Tooro subjects divided, with some welcoming Kamurasi’s selection as consistent with the kingdom’s traditions, while others are demanding greater transparency over the process and the identity of the heir President Museveni said had been left behind by Oyo.
Mwenda announces Kamurasi
The controversy intensified after Mwenda announced on social media that the Royal Succession Committee had selected George Desmond Kamurasi as the next king.
Photo: Self-assigned `Omusuuga` Andrew Mwenda
According to Mwenda, the 21-member committee met at Fort Motel in Fort Portal City on September 4 and selected Kamurasi after a vote. He said 18 members attended the meeting, with 15 voting in favour of Kamurasi. Mwenda further said the committee had been selected by the Ababiito royal clan on August 28 and had been meeting to deliberate on the succession. He identified Omusuuga Charles Akiiki Kamurasi as chairman of the committee.
However, the timing and manner of the announcement have generated controversy. Some subjects have questioned why a journalist was the person communicating such a consequential royal decision before the Omusuuga formally announced it to the Babiito clan leaders. Mwenda defended his decision, saying he had made the announcement to prevent social media speculation from creating further confusion.
He also said he had discussed the development with Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces and chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda, as well as Gen Kayanja Muhanga, the Chief of Land Forces. According to Mwenda, Gen Muhoozi endorsed the committee’s decision, which he said was consistent with Tooro customs, precedents and laws on succession.
He further claimed that President Museveni supported the decision of the Royal Succession Committee. These claims, however, have themselves become part of the debate, with some Tooro subjects demanding that the kingdom’s cultural organs, rather than politicians or political figures, should be seen as the primary authorities on royal succession.
Museveni’s heir bombshell
The controversy cannot be separated from President Museveni’s announcement following King Oyo’s death.
President Museveni
While announcing the death of the Omukama, Museveni revealed that the late king had left a son. “The Queen Mother has informed me the King has a son,” Museveni said. The statement immediately created expectations that Oyo’s son could play a central role in the succession.
The identity, age and status of the reported child have since become the subject of intense debate. The uncertainty has been particularly damaging because the announcement appeared to introduce a potentially significant claimant into a succession process that many subjects believed would revolve around the established Babiito royal line.
Questions have consequently emerged over whether the reported child was considered by the Royal Succession Committee, what evidence was presented regarding his identity and lineage, and why he did not emerge as the committee’s choice.
Social media commentary has further intensified the controversy. Doreen Nyanjura Omutatina claimed that the reported three-year-old heir received only one vote from the committee. She also questioned the circumstances surrounding the child’s name, alleging that the committee was uncertain about his identity.
Those claims have not been independently established and remain part of the competing narratives surrounding the succession. Nevertheless, the fact that such questions are circulating illustrates the level of uncertainty now surrounding Tooro’s throne.
Who is George Desmond Kamurasi?
The man selected by the committee is not an outsider to the Tooro royal family. George Desmond Kamurasi was born in Uganda on August 28, 1990, and has spent much of his adult life in Britain.
He studied at Bromley College and subsequently built his professional and personal life in the United Kingdom, away from the intense palace politics that have surrounded the Tooro monarchy. He is the son of George Desmond “Jimmy” Mugenyi, a member of the Babiito royal family and younger brother of the late King Patrick David Mathew Olimi Kaboyo II. That lineage makes Kamurasi a first cousin of the late King Oyo.
His selection is therefore rooted in a branch of the royal family with a longstanding connection to the throne. According to accounts surrounding the succession decision, Kamurasi’s father had previously been identified in the will of his father, King George Rukidi III, as second in line to succeed his elder brother, King Olimi Kaboyo.
This historical connection has become one of the central arguments being advanced in support of Kamurasi’s selection. Supporters of the decision argue that his elevation therefore represents continuity within an established Babiito succession line rather than an unexpected departure from Tooro’s royal tradition.
The father who guarded a child king
Kamurasi’s family history is particularly significant because his father, Mugenyi, played an important role during the early years of King Oyo’s reign. George Desmond “Jimmy” Mugenyi was born in 1947 at Kabarole Hospital to King George Kamurasi Rukidi III and Omugo Kezia Byanjeru.
He attended Budo Junior School, Buhinga Indian Junior School and Nyakasura School before leaving Uganda for the United Kingdom during the period when traditional kingdoms had been abolished. He returned to Uganda around 1993, shortly before the restoration of traditional kingdoms. Two years later, in 1995, the death of King Olimi Kaboyo dramatically changed Tooro’s history.
Oyo, then only three years old, inherited the throne. Mugenyi was subsequently appointed guardian to the young king, placing him close to the centre of Tooro’s monarchy during Oyo’s formative years.
The connection has added another layer of significance to Kamurasi’s selection. His father was not merely a distant royal relative. He belonged to the generation that helped oversee Oyo during his childhood. Mugenyi married Priscillar Mugenyi in 1994. She died in 2004, leaving four children, including three sons and a daughter. Mugenyi died in 2016.
Kamurasi’s supporters now point to this history as evidence that his family has a deep institutional connection to the Tooro throne.
A prince who lived away from palace politics
Yet Kamurasi’s own life has largely been removed from the public contest for the Tooro throne. Unlike royal figures who have remained visible in Fort Portal and participated regularly in cultural affairs, Kamurasi spent significant periods of his adult life in Britain.
He built a professional life away from the palace and maintained a relatively low public profile. He is married to Abbey Rooke, whom he met in the United Kingdom, and the couple have one child. His long absence from the daily affairs of the kingdom has, however, become a subject of debate. For some, his distance from palace politics could be an advantage, allowing him to assume the throne without being deeply entangled in existing factions.
For others, it raises questions about how familiar he is with the contemporary social, cultural and political realities of Tooro. His supporters insist that royal legitimacy is based on lineage and custom rather than the amount of time a prince spends in the public eye.
The Mpuuga question
The emergence of Kamurasi has also revived discussion about other members of the royal family who some subjects believe could have been considered. On social media, Maama Uganda questioned why Mpuuga Patrick was not appointed.
She claimed Mpuuga is a cousin of King Oyo, the son of Omusuuga Kamurasi and someone who grew up close to the late king. “I feel like Mpuuga would have been the best fit for the throne,” she said. The claim reflects a broader sentiment among sections of Tooro that the succession process should have involved wider consultation among royal family members and cultural leaders.
However, such social media opinions do not necessarily reflect the formal position of the Royal Succession Committee.
Why the election has divided Tooro
At the heart of the crisis is not simply the identity of the new king. It is the question of legitimacy. The Royal Succession Committee says it has fulfilled its mandate by selecting Kamurasi through a vote.
Its supporters argue that 15 of the 18 members present voted for him, giving the decision substantial backing within the committee. But critics want to know who authorised the committee, the precise succession rules it applied, who was eligible for consideration and whether all relevant royal claimants were given an opportunity to present their cases. The situation has been made more complicated by the reported existence of Oyo’s son.
If the child is indeed a biological son of the late king, some subjects argue that his status must be fully clarified before the kingdom settles the succession question. Others maintain that the Babiito succession system cannot simply be reduced to a question of direct biological descent and that the committee must apply established Tooro customs and precedents.
The disagreement has therefore evolved into a battle between competing interpretations of tradition, legitimacy and continuity.
Waiting for the formal announcement
Despite the controversy, the process is not yet formally complete. According to Mwenda, Omusuuga Kamurasi told him that under Tooro custom, the public announcement of a new king is made after the burial of the deceased Omukama.
King Oyo’s burial is therefore expected to precede the formal proclamation. This creates a window for the kingdom’s cultural leadership to address the growing uncertainty. The Omusuuga and Babiito clan leaders will face the difficult task of explaining the succession process to a kingdom that is already divided. They will also have to confront questions about the reported heir mentioned by President Museveni, the role of the Royal Succession Committee, and the circumstances under which Kamurasi was selected.
The kingdom’s leadership will need to convince subjects that the decision was reached through a legitimate and culturally recognised process rather than through political pressure or influence from outside the traditional institution.
A kingdom at a crossroads
For Tooro, the succession dispute comes at a particularly sensitive moment. King Oyo’s death ended a 31-year reign that began when he was only three years old. His death has left a generation of subjects who knew only one Omukama confronting the difficult question of who should lead the kingdom into its next chapter.
George Desmond Kamurasi now stands at the centre of that transition. He carries a powerful royal lineage: grandson of an Omukama, son of a former guardian to King Oyo and first cousin of the deceased king. But lineage alone may not resolve the political and cultural tensions that have emerged.
The kingdom must still address the unanswered questions surrounding the succession process and the reported heir. Until those questions are settled, the announcement of Kamurasi’s selection is likely to remain a source of controversy rather than closure. Tooro now faces a critical test.
It can allow competing claims, social media speculation and political endorsements to deepen the divisions, or its cultural leadership can bring the various factions together, explain the succession process transparently and establish a broadly accepted path forward.
For a kingdom whose monarchy has historically been a symbol of identity and unity, the manner in which the succession is handled could prove as important as the identity of the man who eventually wears the royal crown.
Author Profile
- Charles Gazza Kodili is a seasoned journalist with over 20 years of experience in the media industry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication. He’s currently the Chief Editor at the Investigator.
Charles can also be reached via; Tel: +256 774 108978
Email: [email protected]
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