A TV journalist on Tuesday was crowned king of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom.
What do we know so far?
Edward Rukidi Kiganangoma has ascended to the thrown after his predecessor, King Oyo Kyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, died unexpectedly last month.
King Oyo was only 34 and had lost his cancer battle while receiving treatment in the US. Oyo had became king at only three years of age.
Oyo’s death sparked a succession battle in Uganda, with Oyo’s mother pushing for the late king’s undisclosed son to be the next monarch.
However, the royal Babito clan chose Kiganangoma, now Nyabongo I, as the heir to the throne out of a group of eligible princes.
Kiganangoma took part in a coronation ceremony in the remote town of Fort Portal in western Uganda to ascend to the throne.
Coronation rituals included a mock battle and animal sacrifices. The ceremony in Fort Portal was televised and attended by thousands of people.
Kiganangoma, who is 56 years old, had worked as a journalist and editor for Ugandan public broadcaster UBC.
Tooro’s new king vows to ‘protect our culture, our traditions and customs’
“We have a big task to protect our culture, our traditions and customs and good conduct among our people,” the new king said in his maiden speech. He had also told the New Vision newspaper: “My family never let me treat royal descent as an entitlement.”
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was present for the coronation ceremony of the new king.
While expressing sadness over King Oyo’s passing, Museveni also said he congratulates “his Highness Nyabongo. I have been watching him on the news and he is a good newsreader. I am sure he will do a good job.”
Uganda is a constitutional republic with a president voted in democratically.
However, the country’s four major precolonial kingdoms still hold cultural influence over the East African nation, despite not wielding any political power. The kings are involved in maintaining social order and safeguarding the heritage of their respective kingdoms.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
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