Mayiga Visits Buziga to Mourn King Oyo, Delivers Kabaka Mutebi’s Message of Unity to Tooro

Kampala — Buganda Kingdom Prime Minister Charles Peter Mayiga led a delegation to the late King Oyo’s Buziga residence on Wednesday, delivering a message of grief and solidarity from Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II to the royal family and people of Tooro as the kingdom counts down to the return of its monarch’s remains.

Mayiga was accompanied by members of the Kabaka’s government and the Buganda royal family as the delegation paid its respects and signed the condolence book opened for the late Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died of cancer in the United States on August 27 at the age of 34.

“Shock, grief and great fear”

Speaking to journalists afterward, Mayiga said the news of the King’s death had shaken Buganda to its core.

“The passing of the Omukama shocked us deeply and filled us with profound grief,” he said, adding that the loss was made harder to bear by how young the King had been.

Mayiga said he was the one who broke the news to Kabaka Mutebi, after receiving confirmation from his Tooro counterpart, Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki. “Yesterday, I was with the Prime Minister of Tooro. We had a casual chat. Later, he gave me this sad news, and I delivered it to the Kabaka. He was saddened,” Mayiga recounted.

The Kabaka’s message

The message Mayiga carried to Tooro was one of grief, solidarity and an appeal for calm. He said Kabaka Mutebi asked him to urge the people of Tooro to remain united and composed during this period of mourning, stressing that the interests of the kingdom must come first.

“The Kingdom of Buganda stands with the people of Tooro, and all Ugandans, during this sad moment,” Mayiga said, relaying the Kabaka’s words. “We, therefore, grieve and stand with Tooro, and we pray that the people of Tooro remain together.”

A bond nearly 200 years old

Mayiga used the visit to underscore the depth of the historic relationship between the two kingdoms, tracing it back almost two centuries to the founding of Tooro in the 1830s.

“Members of the royal families of Tooro and Buganda have been taken care of by the different kings of the two kingdoms and vice versa,” he said, noting that royal children from both households have historically been raised under each other’s care.

That relationship, Mayiga said, is precisely why Kabaka Mutebi became one of King Oyo’s appointed guardians when the young monarch ascended the Tooro throne at just three years old in 1995 — a role he shared with President Museveni, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa and Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya. “It is little wonder, therefore,” Mayiga said, pointing to how naturally the Kabaka took on that duty of care.

A King with unfinished plans

Mayiga also reflected on the King’s legacy, describing him as a monarch who came into his own after his formal coronation in 2010. “When King Oyo came of age in 2010, we saw a youthful monarch, who was ready to serve his people, unite them, and strengthen the fraternity between Tooro and other kingdoms, especially the Kingdom of Buganda,” he said.

He revealed that Tooro’s Prime Minister had recently shared some of King Oyo’s unfulfilled aspirations with him, including a push to mobilise Tooro’s youth around cultural heritage and development. “His Majesty wanted to rekindle the love for our heritage while also promoting the welfare of the people, especially the young people,” Mayiga said. “King Oyo is physically gone from us, but we all believe that his hopes and aspirations will remain alive.”

What comes next

The Buziga visit comes as final preparations intensify for the return of King Oyo’s remains to Uganda on Friday, September 4, when the casket is expected to land at Entebbe International Airport before being flown to Kyegegwa District and driven in procession to Karuziika Palace in Fort Portal, where Tooro’s official nine-day mourning period will formally begin.

Mayiga’s message reflects a wider wave of condolences that has swept in from cultural and political leaders across Uganda, but carries particular historical weight given the guardianship ties binding the thrones of Buganda and Tooro since the boy-king first took his father’s place three decades ago.

SOURCE NILEPOST