Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a veteran Ugandan news anchor, was installed as the Omukama of Tooro in Fort Portal on Wednesday, following the recent death of the kingdom’s young king. The enthronement ceremony, held at Karuziika Palace, included a midnight procession, a symbolic battle at the gates, and traditional rituals involving the blood of a bull and a hen. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni attended the event as a guest of honor.

Kijanangoma, 56, is a prince and former editor at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. He succeeds King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died on August 27 in the United States at the age of 34. Oyo, who became king at age three in 1995, was a highly visible and internationally recognized figure. The Tooro royal clan initially selected his cousin George Desmond Kamurasi, 36, a semi-professional goalkeeper based in southeast London, as heir. Kamurasi traveled to Uganda to pay respects but ultimately declined the throne.

The succession has been complicated by claims from King Oyo’s mother, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, and sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, that the late king left a will naming an unknown son as his heir. According to the queen mother, the boy resides in Texas and has been shielded from the public dispute. This claim has been dismissed by the clan elders, who have proceeded with Kijanangoma’s installation. The disagreement delayed Oyo’s funeral by nearly two hours, and both the queen mother and princess abstained from participating in the recent coronation.

Uganda’s pre-colonial kingdoms, which were abolished in 1967 by then-Prime Minister Milton Obote, were reinstated in 1993 by Museveni as cultural institutions without formal political authority. The kings still hold symbolic significance and maintain strong traditional loyalties among their communities.

Kijanangoma and Kamurasi are both grandsons of King George Rukidi III, who ruled Tooro from 1928 until 1965 and was notable for attending Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 and hosting the monarch in Uganda the following year. Upon his installation, Kijanangoma emphasized the responsibilities of the throne, defining it as a duty that must be met with discipline and hard work rather than simply a birthright.