The remains of the late Tooro monarch, Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, have arrived in Tooro Kingdom, setting in motion an emotional final journey home for a king whose three-decade reign left a lasting mark on the kingdom.
The casket carrying the remains of the 34-year-old monarch arrived at Humura Uganda Playground in Kyegegwa Town Council, Kyegegwa District, at exactly 2:05pm on Friday aboard a Uganda People’s Defence Forces helicopter from Entebbe International Airport.
Thousands of mourners had gathered at the playground hours before the arrival, with many standings quietly as they awaited the return of their king. The crowd included Members of Parliament from the Tooro region, kingdom officials, religious and political leaders, as well as residents from different parts of the region.
Earlier, the remains had been received at Entebbe International Airport by President Yoweri Museveni before being flown to Kyegegwa, where the final journey through the kingdom began.
The Queen Mother, Best Kemigisa, Princess Ruth Komuntale, Princess Elizabeth Bagaya and other members of the royal family accompanied the remains.
At Humura Playground, religious leaders conducted brief prayers before the casket was transferred into a VVIP hearse for the road journey to Fort Portal City. The procession is expected to provide thousands of mourners gathered along the route with an opportunity to pay their final respects to the late monarch.
From Kyegegwa, the convoy is expected to pass through Kyaka County, continue through Mwenge in Kyenjojo District and Burahya in Kabarole District before proceeding to Fort Portal City.
For many residents, however, the journey represents more than the transportation of the remains of a monarch. It has become a final symbolic passage through the communities that Omukama Oyo represented throughout his reign, giving his subjects an opportunity to accompany their king home for the last time.
Upon arrival at Karuzika Royal Palace, the remains will be received by the head of the royal Babiito clan, Musuuga Charles Kamurasi, the chief priest, members of the royal clan and other kingdom officials.
Thousands of mourners had already gathered at the palace as they waited for the arrival of the casket.
For some of those who witnessed the procession, the sight of the coffin brought a painful sense of finality to a death that many had struggled to accept.
Anna Mugisa, a resident of Kyegegwa, said she had found it difficult to believe that Omukama Oyo was gone until she saw the casket carrying his remains.
Another resident, James Mwirumubi, said the monarch’s death had come at a particularly emotional time, as he had in recent years become increasingly visible among his subjects and more actively involved in development initiatives within the kingdom.
The journey of Omukama Oyo’s remains through Tooro also carries a rare historical significance.
Historical accounts indicate that the kingdom last witnessed a similar journey nearly a century ago, following the death of Omukama Kasagama Kyebambe IV in December 1928.
Kasagama had travelled from his palace in Fort Portal to a smaller royal residence in Mwenge during the Christmas period, where he was reportedly expecting to host his friend, Kabaka Daudi Chwa II of Buganda. He, however, died suddenly while in Mwenge, prompting the transportation of his remains back to Fort Portal.
Almost 100 years later, Tooro is once again witnessing a monarch’s final journey through the kingdom.
The procession carrying Omukama Oyo’s remains from Kyegegwa through Mwenge and Burahya to Fort Portal has revived memories of that earlier chapter in Tooro’s history, when the death of a king brought together the royal household and subjects in collective mourning.
Yet the circumstances surrounding the two journeys are strikingly different.
Kasagama died at a time when Tooro existed under a vastly different political and social order. Omukama Oyo’s final journey, by contrast, is unfolding before a modern audience, with thousands of people lining roads, communities organising vigils and mourners from across the country following the return of a king who ascended the throne as a child.
Oyo became Omukama of Tooro in 1995 following the death of his father, Omukama Patrick Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III. He was only three years old at the time, making him one of the youngest reigning monarchs in the world.
Over the next three decades, his reign became closely intertwined with Tooro’s modern history. His death now brings to an end a remarkable chapter for a kingdom that watched him grow from a child king into an adult monarch.
As the hearse continues towards Fort Portal, passing through communities that knew him as their king, the journey is taking on a significance beyond a funeral procession.
It is a final homecoming, a farewell by thousands of subjects and a moment of history as a monarch who ruled Tooro for more than three decades makes his last journey back to the royal palace.
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