FORT PORTAL — The mystery surrounding the reported son of the late Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV has taken a dramatic turn, with Tooro’s Royal Succession Committee selecting a different member of the Babiito royal family to take over the throne.
The committee has selected George Desmond Kamurasi, 36, as the proposed successor to the late King Oyo, effectively placing the reported young son whose existence was announced after Oyo’s death outside the succession decision announced so far.
The development comes barely days after Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki declared that Oyo had left behind a prince who would inherit the crown.
“The continuity of the Crown is assured. His Majesty leaves behind a Prince as his heir,” the Omuhikirwa said when announcing the King’s death.
The identity of the alleged heir, however, was never publicly disclosed.
President Yoweri Museveni subsequently appeared to confirm the existence of the child, saying Queen Mother Best Kemigisa had told him that Oyo had left a young boy who would eventually be introduced to the public.
“Fortunately, in a telephone call, Her Royal Highness Kemigisa told me that H.M. Oyo left a young heir who will be introduced to the public at the right time,” Museveni said.
That claim immediately collided with the position of the Babiito royal clan.
Royal family said it knew nothing about the child
The head of the Babiito royal clan, Omusuuga Charles Kayondo Kamurasi, said that the royal family had not been informed about any biological child of the late king.
“The king had no child. I don’t know about it because we have never been told that,” Kamurasi said.
He questioned how the Prime Minister could announce an heir when the royal clan itself had no knowledge of the alleged child.
“I don’t know where he got that information from. We don’t know anything as far as the royal family is concerned,” Kamurasi said.
The disagreement was not merely about whether the child existed. It exposed a deeper question over who has the authority to determine succession to the Tooro throne.
Kamurasi maintained that succession is fundamentally a matter for the Babiito royal family and its established cultural structures.
Consequently, a succession committee was established under the leadership of the Omusuuga to identify Oyo’s successor.
The committee now chooses George Kamurasi
The answer from the royal succession machinery emerged on September 4.
According to journalist Andrew Mwenda, the 21-member Royal Succession Committee met at Fort Motel in Fort Portal City and selected George Desmond Kamurasi.
Of the 18 members who attended, 15 reportedly voted for Kamurasi. It was not clear if the name of Oyo’s mysterious son had been brought up or even voted on.
Kamurasi is not an outsider to the royal household.
He is the son of the late George Desmond “Jimmy” Mugenyi, who was a younger brother of former Tooro king Patrick David Matthew Olimi Kaboyo II.
According to the account reported by Mwenda, Mugenyi had been second in line to succeed his brother under the will of their father, the late King George Rukidi III.
That lineage became particularly important after the Babiito clan disputed the existence of an heir directly descended from Oyo.
It is understood that if no known biological child of Oyo was established, the search would return to the wider lineage of King George Rukidi III.
That is precisely the route the succession process now appears to have taken.
What happened to Oyo’s reported son?
The committee’s decision does not publicly establish that the reported child does not exist.
Rather, it demonstrates that the child announced by the Prime Minister and later mentioned by Museveni has not been recognised or picked by the succession process as the person who will immediately take the Tooro throne.
This distinction is important.
At the time of the announcement of Oyo’s death, the Prime Minister presented the child as an heir. Museveni reinforced that account after speaking with Queen Mother Best Kemigisa.
But the Babiito royal clan subsequently took control of the succession process and insisted that it had no knowledge of such a biological child.
The 21-member committee was specifically mandated to identify the successor and oversee the traditional procedures surrounding the transition.
Its selection of George Kamurasi therefore represents a decisive shift from the initial narrative that Oyo’s son would simply inherit the crown.
A succession battle that began with Oyo’s death
King Oyo died on August 27, 2026, aged 34, ending a 31-year reign that began when he was only three years old.
His death immediately created an unusual succession dilemma.
Normally, the existence of a biological son would provide a straightforward hereditary route. But Oyo was not officially married and the alleged son had never been publicly presented as the heir before his death.
That created room for competing accounts.
The Prime Minister said the crown was secure because Oyo had left a prince.
The Queen Mother reportedly told Museveni the same.
But the Babiito royal leadership said it had never been informed of the child.
The situation escalated into a split at the heart of Tooro, with the Prime Minister and royal clan advancing conflicting positions over the succession.
The royal clan then established the 21-member committee to settle the question.
Museveni and Muhoozi back the committee’s choice
Mwenda reported that after the selection, he briefed Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and Commander Land Forces Gen Kayanja Muhanga.
According to his account, Muhoozi endorsed Kamurasi’s selection, saying it was consistent with Tooro customs, precedent and succession laws.
Mwenda further reported that Muhoozi told him President Museveni supported the committee’s decision and had sent a delegation led by a senior Cabinet minister to Fort Portal for consultations.
The reported backing gives the Kamurasi selection considerable political weight, although the cultural authority to formally announce the monarch remains with the Babiito structures.
Kamurasi’s selection is not yet the final public enthronement
There is still one important step.
The selection has been reported, but the new king has not yet been formally announced and enthroned.
Mwenda said Omusuuga Charles Akiiki Kamurasi told him that, according to Tooro custom, the public announcement would come after King Oyo’s burial.
“The public announcement is done after the burial,” Mwenda reported the Omusuuga as saying.
King Oyo’s burial is scheduled for September 12.
For now, therefore, George Desmond Kamurasi is the man selected by the Royal Succession Committee to take over the throne.
And for the reported son of King Oyo, the succession story has taken an unexpected turn.
A child whose existence was presented by the Prime Minister as guaranteeing the continuity of the crown has not emerged as the successor chosen by the royal clan’s succession machinery.
Instead, the crown has been directed back to the wider Babiito lineage of King George Rukidi III — producing a stunning reversal only days after the kingdom was told that Oyo had left behind an heir.
Read interesting facts about new Tooro king Omukama George Desmond Kamurasi, his Mzungu Wife, their son and photos Here and There.
