The Royal Succession Committee of the Tooro Kingdom has selected George Desmond Kamurasi as the proposed successor to the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died last week.
Journalist Andrew Mwenda, a close associate of the royal family, announced the development on Friday, saying the 21-member committee met at Fort Motel in Fort Portal City and endorsed the 36-year-old Kamurasi.
Mwenda said 15 of the 18 committee members who attended the meeting voted in favour of Kamurasi.
“We now await the Omusuuga to make a formal announcement officially to the Babiito clan leaders,” Mwenda said.
However, the development has not yet been officially announced by Omusuuga Charles Akiiki Kamurasi, who chairs the Royal Succession Committee. He is expected to make the decision public after the burial of King Oyo.
George Desmond Kamurasi is a son of George Desmond Mugenyi, a younger brother of the late King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III, King Oyo’s father, who died in 1995.
According to Mwenda, Kamurasi was identified in the will of his late father, King George Rukidi III, as the second in line to succeed his elder brother, Olimi Kaboyo II.
Mwenda also said he held discussions on Friday evening with Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Commander of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and Chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), as well as Gen. Kayanja Muhanga, and briefed them on the committee’s decision.
He said Gen. Muhoozi endorsed Kamurasi’s selection, arguing that it was consistent with Tooro customs, precedents and laws governing royal succession.
Mwenda further reported that Gen. Muhoozi told him that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni supports the decision of the Royal Succession Committee.
According to Mwenda, the President had sent a team led by a senior Cabinet minister to Fort Portal to engage key stakeholders on the succession question.
“After extensive consultations with all the key stakeholders, the committee was convinced that there is a wide consensus around the succession of Kamurasi,” Mwenda said.
The proposed succession will now await a formal announcement by the Omusuuga and the subsequent processes required under Tooro Kingdom customs and succession procedures.
