The monarch, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, has not been laid to rest yet, but family members and royal clan leaders are locked in a highly public dispute over who should take his place. The conflict has ignited fears of a protracted succession battle for a powerful cultural institution in the East African country.
Uganda’s centuries-old kingdoms were outlawed by the government in 1967 when the president at the time sought to consolidate his rule. King Oyo’s father, who had just ascended to the throne, was forced into exile to Kenya. But four kingdoms — Buganda, Ankole, Bunyoro and Tooro — were reinstated in 1995, more as cultural institutions than political powers. King Oyo’s father returned to the country.
The father soon died, however, and the toddler Oyo was crowned that same year. Growing up, he went to school and played video games and soccer, and his mother controlled the household spending. (Women are barred from reigning in the kingdom, putting King Oyo before his mother and older sister in the line of succession.)
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda repeated the claim that King Oyo had left a “young boy heir.” And in social media statements he , saying the young monarch had avoided the mistake of using his cultural power to “promote sectarianism.”
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