A non-league goalkeeper from south-east London turned down the throne of Uganda's Tooro Kingdom last week, setting off a succession battle that erupted into open confrontation prior to King Oyo's funeral on Saturday. George Desmond Kamurasi, 36, captain and goalkeeper of SE Dons — a club competing at the ninth tier of English football in Crayford — had been selected by a 21-member royal succession committee as the preferred candidate to succeed his cousin, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. Fifteen of the 18 members who took part in the vote backed him.
He said no, citing other responsibilities, committee member Fr Charles Oyo told ESPN. In Tooro tradition, refusing the throne after being formally selected is considered a disgrace. Kamurasi has not commented publicly on his decision.
Reports in Ugandan media said he was reluctant to leave London — he has family relations in England and was due to play an FA Vase qualifying round the same weekend as Oyo's funeral. The committee then turned to Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a news anchor and editor at Uganda's public broadcaster UBC, who was announced as successor earlier this week. That decision has since been rejected by the late king's immediate family.
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who ascended to the throne at the age of three and reigned over the Tooro Kingdom for 31 years, died recently at the age of 34 while receiving cancer treatment in the US. Guinness World Records had recognised him as the world's youngest reigning monarch. Several thousand people gathered on Saturday in Uganda to pay final respects to the monarch, with President Yoweri Museveni urging unity.
"Once the matter of the new king of the Batoro is settled, we will be happy to work with him, just as we did with His Highness Oyo," he said in a statement read out during Saturday's ceremony at Saint John's Cathedral in the city of Fort Portal in western Uganda. "I call on the Batoro to use peaceful and lawful means to resolve this issue and to favour unity over division." The dispute fractured the royal family, with the late king's mother charging that she and other members of the royal family had been put under effective house arrest. The king's sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, accused "evil vultures" of conspiring against her and Queen Mother Best Kemigisa.
She produced a will, which she said the king drafted in 2022, designating "a biological son" as heir without naming him. This came as a surprise to many in the Tooro elite, who had never heard of the son and did not include his name in the succession vote. The Babiito royal committee, which traditionally presides over and determines matters relating to royal lineages, succession, and family affairs, defended its choice on Saturday.
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