FORT PORTAL — Tension reportedly erupted in Fort Portal on Saturday as Queen Mother Best Kemigisa resisted efforts to separate her from the vehicle carrying the body of her son, the late Tooro King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, before security personnel eventually removed her from the vehicle.
Journalist Andrew Bagala reported on X that the Queen Mother had refused to leave the vehicle carrying Oyo’s body despite repeated attempts by ministers, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa and security officials to persuade her to do so.
“Gen Tumukunde, the deputy speaker and security agencies have tried to talk to her, but she has refused to yield to their calls. It is now one and half hours of tension,” Bagala reported.
In a subsequent update, he said: “UPDF soldiers have forcefully removed the Queen Mother from the vehicle and body of her son has been taken for burial.”
NBS TV journalist Canary Mugume also tweeted, saying: “King Oyo has not been buried yet, according to sources inside Karambi Royal Tombs. Queen Mother Best Kemigisa was blocked from burying the son. Witnesses say the casket was forcefully taken out of the car, and QM Best was locked inside the car.”
He added: “The Queen Mother Best wanted to be the one to bury her son — as she did for her husband and lower the coffee beans into his grave herself. She was told this was against Tooro tradition and custom, and was overruled.”
The incident comes against the backdrop of a bitter dispute over the succession to the Tooro throne.
The Queen Mother and her daughter, Princess Ruth Nsemere Komuntale, have rejected the decision by the Babiito royal clan to recognise Prince Edward Rukidi Kiijanangoma as Oyo’s successor.
Kemigisa has argued that Oyo left a will identifying the order of succession, while Komuntale has publicly insisted that her late brother left a biological son who should inherit the throne.
The Babiito clan leadership, however, has maintained that Kiijanangoma is the new king.
Earlier on Saturday, Musuuga Charles Kayondo Kamurasi, the traditional head of the Babiito royal clan, told mourners at St John’s Cathedral that the clan had agreed on Kiijanangoma.
“I want to inform you, the people of Tooro and Uganda at large, that we have a King. We sat down and agreed on one thing: the King is Prince Edward Rukidi Kiijanangoma,” Kamurasi said.
“Whatever we have done, we have done within the laws of Uganda and the culture of Tooro.”
The succession dispute has unfolded alongside heightened security around Karuziika Palace. On Thursday, Kemigisa said members of the royal family were effectively under house arrest after security personnel were deployed around the palace and royal guards were removed.
The government and military have denied that the Queen Mother was placed under house arrest, saying the security deployment was intended to protect the palace and facilitate preparations for Oyo’s burial.
The official burial programme provided by the Uganda Media Centre scheduled the funeral service at St John’s Cathedral from 9am to 1pm, followed by a six-kilometre procession to the Karambi Royal Tombs. Vehicle access to the tombs was restricted to designated official convoys.
Oyo died on August 27, 2026, aged 34, after battling cancer. He had ruled Tooro for more than three decades after ascending the throne in 1995 at the age of three.
The reported confrontation over the hearse adds another dramatic episode to a succession dispute that has already divided members of the royal family and Babiito clan leadership.
