Journalist ascends to throne in Uganda kingdom after succession dispute 

A journalist has been crowned king of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom, becoming the 13th monarch of the Batooro people in a ceremony marking the ⁠end of a succession dispute.

Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma succeeded King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, whose death last month from cancer at age 34 triggered a feud after his mother said a previously undisclosed son was entitled to the throne.

Uganda is a ⁠constitutional republic governed by an elected president, but four pre-colonial kingdoms remain influential symbols of identity and heritage despite not having political power.

A 21-member committee from the royal Babiito clan selected Kijanangoma, 56, who is Oyo Nyimba’s cousin.

Kijanangoma took the 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 from midnight to 3am on Tuesday (21:00 GMT on Monday to 00:00 GMT on Tuesday) before taking part in a mock battle for the crown.

Former colleagues of Nyabongo ⁠I at the state broadcaster UBC, where he worked as a news anchor and editor, described him as humble and down to earth.

The selection of Nyabongo I as king was widely contested because he wasn’t in the direct line of succession, and the 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 his heir. The claim to the throne has led to increasing disquiet within the community on the selection of Nyabongo I.

The reason for Kemigisa’s withholding of the identity of the heir remains unclear.

Critics said, however, that Oyo’s alleged child would have to have been introduced to the kingdom’s elders when his father was still alive to become a legitimate heir, if he even exists at all.