FORT PORTAL —The casket of the late Tooro King, Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, is being airlifted by helicopter from Kyegegwa to Karuziika Palace in Fort Portal, where the kingdom will begin its formal mourning rites.
The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) helicopter carrying the King’s remains left Kyegegwa after hundreds of mourners gathered at Humura Primary School to receive him.
The helicopter journey marks the latest stage in the King’s final homecoming after his remains arrived at Entebbe International Airport earlier Friday.
At Entebbe, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni received the casket, paid his final respects and laid a wreath before it was transferred for the journey west. The casket was draped in both the Ugandan national colours and the colours of the Tooro Kingdom.
Queen Mother Best Kemigisa and Princess Elizabeth Bagaya were also present at Entebbe. Both played significant roles in the early years of King Oyo’s reign after he ascended the throne as a three-year-old in 1995.
Entebbe to Kyegegwa
The remains of Tooro King Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV arrived in Kyegegwa District Friday afternoon.
The King’s casket was gently transferred from the helicopter to a waiting hearse as mourners, cultural leaders, government officials and Batooro gathered to pay their final respects.
At Kyegegwa, the mood shifted from the formal ceremony at the airport to a more intimate expression of grief, with residents and Tooro subjects lining up to witness the arrival of their King.
For many Batooro, Oyo’s death represents the loss of a monarch they had watched grow from childhood into adulthood.
He was crowned on September 12, 1995, following the death of his father, Omukama Patrick Olimi Kaboyo. Because of his young age, a regency was established to guide the kingdom during his childhood.
Oyo eventually assumed full responsibilities as monarch and became one of Africa’s longest-serving contemporary traditional rulers.
His death at the age of 34 has therefore closed an unusual chapter in Tooro’s history: a boy who inherited a throne and grew into the institution itself.
The road procession from Kyegegwa will proceed through Kyenjojo and Kabarole before the remains reach Karuziika Palace in Fort Portal, where the kingdom’s funeral rites will continue.
The King is expected to be buried at the Karambi Royal Tombs on September 12, 2026—the same date on which he was crowned 31 years ago.
For those gathered along the route, however, the procession is more than a funeral.
It is a final meeting between a people and the King many of them have known all their lives.
Oyo came to the throne as a child.
He now returns home as a memory.
