Atukwase Lillian

You are the same today as you will be 5 years from now, Except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read - Charlie T Jones

[Feeyi @ImaniMulungi]

Hey everyone, I hope you're okay.
I need your help once again. Been in & out of hospital for some months now, after a number of tests, it's been found that I need a 4th Endometriosis surgery if I am to save my kidneys, bladder, uterers etc.

The target is $10k/UGX 40 million

[Atukwase Lillian @atukwaselillian]

@blessed_pison Must’ve been a national issue because Kiwatule had the same.

[Atukwase Lillian @atukwaselillian]

@AtambaAble 😂😂😂😂😂 facts!

[Ron Kazooba Kawamara @Ronkawamara]

When the great tree falls, do not immediately watch the branches.

Watch the people who once sat beneath its shade.

Some will mourn the tree. Others will measure the timber.

The birds that built their nests there will suddenly find another tree. The hands that were fed by its fruit will forget who planted it. Old grudges will emerge from the forest, dressed as tradition, duty and concern.

And while everyone argues over what belonged to the tree, look for the woman sitting quietly beside its roots.

She remembers when it was only a seed.

She watered it before it gave shade. Protected it before it bore fruit. Stood beside it through every storm. She loved it when there was absolutely nothing to inherit.

Yet when the tree falls, even she may discover that those who once bowed before its branches have no difficulty stepping over its roots.

That is the cruel lesson of death:

Some people loved the tree.

Others only loved the shade.

Time eventually tells the difference.

[Alan Kasujja @kasujja]

Maan..

We are very grateful to General @mkainerugaba for moving so quickly when I asked for a vehicle to support our work.

Let me give this some context.

@UgandaMediaCent has been chronically underfunded for a long time.

The pickup involved in the accident was given to us by our PS to help with field work. Before that, we basically had one vehicle, which is assigned to the ED’s office.

So when the accident happened, we had a problem.

First and most importantly, we are just grateful that our colleagues who were travelling in that pickup are fine. Cars can be replaced. People can’t.

But it also meant that, overnight, we had no vehicle for field work.

The PSST and our colleagues at the Ministry of Finance understand the situation and have allocated some money to help us beef up the fleet. That process will take its course.

In the meantime, we were back to one car.

So that “village excitement” you saw when General Kainerugaba gave us the Land Cruiser was simply a huge sigh of relief.

Someone in a position of leadership saw that we had a genuine problem and made a decision. Immediately.

I appreciate that enormously.

I’ve wasted so much time sitting in people’s offices talking about “collaboration”, asking for support, having long meetings and getting absolutely nowhere.

These days I hardly take meetings. If I do, I’ll normally initiate them myself or ask people to come and see me.

I’m interested in people who want to get things done.

Credit where it’s due. @mukiza_robert and I had a 10-minute conversation. We agreed what needed to be done and decided to work together.

Same thing with @UCC_ED and @NITAUgandaED.

We’re going to work with @JulzKagwa and her team at @TourismBoardUg. We’re also very keen to support @ODPPUGANDA.

There will be others.

That’s the kind of collaboration I’m interested in. Less talk. More doing.

Because ultimately all of us are working for the same country.

And if we bring our institutions, resources and ideas together, we can do a much better job of telling Uganda’s story.

[Atukwase Lillian @atukwaselillian]

@jukaowen Mbarara has a large number of non locals rhat live and work there.
Market is there even for pork

[Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki @toorokingdompm]

A MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE, REFLECTION AND HEALING

People of Tooro, friends of Tooro, and all those who stood with us,

As we come to the end of one of the most painful chapters in the recent history of our Kingdom, I wish, on behalf of the Tooro Kingdom administration and on my own behalf, to express our profound gratitude to everyone who stood with us and supported the final journey and dignified send-off of our beloved King, His Majesty Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.

Our responsibility during these difficult days was clear: whatever else was happening around us, we had to see this journey through with the dignity, respect and honour befitting our King. We had to put aside our differences, manage our grief and work together to ensure that His Majesty was laid to rest in a manner worthy of the Crown he carried and the people he served.

In a special way, I wish to recognise and thank Prince Jonathan Bala, His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary, for his loyalty, dedication and service to our King. Throughout this extraordinarily difficult period, his commitment to His Majesty remained steadfast. He carried an enormous personal and official responsibility, often under very difficult circumstances, and continued to serve with dedication until the very end. He deserves our sincere acknowledgement and gratitude.

I thank His Excellency the President, General Muhoozi, the Royal Family, the Government of Uganda, religious and cultural leaders, the organising committees, the media, our Kingdom leadership, clans and Masaza, volunteers, businesses and partners, the people of Tooro, Ugandans across the country, the diaspora and friends from beyond our borders. Whether you contributed your time, resources, professional expertise, food, transport, prayers, presence or simply stood with us in solidarity, you became part of His Majesty’s final journey. We are deeply grateful.

We recognise that everything may not have been done perfectly. This was an unprecedented moment for our generation. We were mourning our King while simultaneously carrying the enormous responsibility of organising his final journey. Emotions were understandably high, decisions sometimes had to be made under extraordinary pressure, and grief affected us all in different ways.

Where we fell short of expectations, where communication could have been better, or where anyone felt disappointed by our actions or omissions, I offer my sincere apologies. These shortcomings should never be mistaken for a lack of respect or commitment. We were a people grieving an immense loss while doing everything within our ability to honour our King.

Now that we have laid His Majesty to rest, another journey begins.

This must be a period of learning, refocusing, rebuilding and healing.

We must learn from what these difficult weeks revealed about our institutions and ourselves. We must strengthen what worked, honestly address what did not, rebuild trust where it has been strained and allow ourselves, individually and collectively, the space to heal.

There will be difficult conversations ahead. There will be institutional questions that require wisdom and clarity. There may be different opinions about the way forward. But our differences must never become greater than the Kingdom we all belong to.

This is not the time for winners and losers. It is the time for responsible leadership, humility and reconciliation.

His Majesty’s passing should remind us that positions are temporary, but Tooro remains. Personal ambitions pass, disagreements pass and generations pass, but the responsibility of preserving this Kingdom for those who come after us endures.

Our guiding principle in the days ahead must therefore remain simple:

Tooro comes first.

Above personalities. Above positions. Above disagreements. Above individual interests.

May we find the wisdom to learn, the humility to reconcile, the courage to rebuild and the strength to move forward together.

@ObukamaBwaTooro

[Atukwase Lillian @atukwaselillian]

Time!

[Samson Kasumba @SamsonMKasumba]

“Kemigisa had to find a house (palace) where to bring up this young family. She chose Kampala. She was never helped to raise money to pay rent, feed the king and his siblings, take care of their medical bills, and pay for their education. Museveni offered help but it was never sufficient. Most (if not all) Batooro ignored the plight of the young family.

In fact, it is Sudhir Ruparelia and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda (both of whom grew up in Toro) who offered a helping hand to educate the king and his sister. It is a mark of her excellent social networking skills that Kemigisa mobilised people like former Libyan ruler, Maummar Gadhafi, to support the kingdom. And even in this, many Batooro elites gossiped in criticism of her efforts. In fact after Katuramu, the kingdom would have collapsed had Kemigisa not stepped onto the plate.”

Andrew Mwenda 15 March 2015

Gratitude to HRH

The Queen Mother.

Thank you Andrew for appreciating this lady for her work towards the kingdom and her efforts.

[Roland🏆 @rolandkid_]

No offense, But you guys should realize that for a woman(widow) to mantain a Kingdom's crown for his 3 year old infant son is Heroism.

I have nothing but respect for the Queen mother, the least we can do is honor her wishes in this trying time!

[TumukundeTonny(TT) @TumukundeTT]

This was a personal battle against Best, Komuntale and the late King. No one loved these people. They have fought them for the last 30 years.

[Miss Awori @MissAwori]

So Gaddafi and Sudhir educated Queen Best's kids, Gaddafi rebuilt the Tooro palace, she bought the Buziga house from her husband's personal estate, Museveni paid for her child King Oyo's medical expenses but you guys said it was Kingdom resources she was enriching herself with?

[Sarah Kasande @skasande2]

There is no greater evil than patriarchy! I understand it is our culture, but it is profoundly cruel to deny a mother the right to bury her own son because he was a King. This is why we will l not stop fighting for a world where women are accorded equal dignity, rights & humanity

[Daudi Kabanda @DaudiKabanda]

Deputy Speaker Rt. Hon. @Thomas_Tayebwa made a very profound statement at the burial of Omukama Oyo. “We have lost a king whom we shall replace, we have lost a friend whom we shall replace, but Queen mother has lost a son whom she will never replace”.

This statement reminds us that while the Kingdom will get another king, The Queen Mother Best Kemigisa has lost her own child. She deserves to be respected as a mother and allowed to mourn her son in whichever way she chooses.

Let us give her grace, respect and privacy in this painful period.

[Ronald Amanyire @amronaldo]

There is no historical record (journalistic, academic, or cultural) showing that Tooro had an active or formally constituted succession committee before 2026. All previous enthronements from historical accounts of Tooro succession (Kaboyo → Kazana → Nyaika → Kasagama → Rukidi III → Olimi III → Oyo) never mention a succession committee. The successor had always been named by the previous King in his Will and none had ever been rejected by a “Succession Committee”. The Babiito seemed to be on standby to form that committee upon King Oyo’s demise.

And there is no mandatory requirement for the King to announce the birth of a Prince to the Ababiito. It is a customary courtesy, not a cultural obligation. A Prince’s legitimacy comes from paternity, not from a formal announcement. Given the friction that seemed to have been there even before King Oyo was enthroned and the fact that he was not legally married, the King and Queen mother had a reason to keep the birth of a Prince a secret.

King Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III seems to have died mysteriously at the age of 49. The official and widely reported cause of death was a “sudden heart attack.”

Following this sudden passing, his sister, Princess Elizabeth Bagaya, collected samples of his vomit, with the intention of having them scientifically examined to ascertain the exact cause of death. The King had developed severe stomach complications while in Kampala before traveling back to Tooro to die in his Kingdom.

The planned medical examination and post-mortem were prevented when members of the royal establishment objected on traditional grounds, maintaining that Tooro cultural norms prohibited subjecting a deceased Omukama (King) to a post-mortem.

In both Tooro and Bunyoro:

➡️A Prince is a Prince regardless of the mother’s status (officially married or not).
➡️A Prince is a Prince even without public announcement
➡️A Prince is a Prince as long as the King acknowledges him privately.
➡️ To this day no public record is available to know the mother of Prince Semakokiro of Buganda.

Although Omukama Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I of Bunyoro was born outside a formal royal marriage, his enthronement was legally challenged. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld his succession, ruling that his mother's marital status was irrelevant because his father, the King, had officially recognized him and named him his rightful heir.

Now you know why the unknown Prince (Oyo’s son) is being protected.

[Alan Kasujja @kasujja]

Been taking all sorts of calls from journos asking me to comment on what’s happened in Toro since King Oyo died.

I’ve repeatedly said I don’t feel qualified to.

That I’m watching and learning.

That things are fluid.

Discombobulating even.

And no the goalkeeper story is very last week.

Almost forgotten..

Oh yes. We moved on to a journalist who’s known by two names in two different countries..

Who’s married to someone who’s not from a clan in Toro.

Andrew said it’s a requirement.

Oh yes. There’s a Will. But an older Will by the grandfather of the King who just passed away is being quoted…

And King Oyo’s cousins - whose father is married to King Oyo’s mother’s younger sister have openly disagreed with their father who by the way is Oyo’s uncle..

And like their Aunt- Oyo’s mum- The Queen Mother- who’s their mother’s sister- they say King Oyo had a son who’s mother Andrew and others want to know..

Jackson or Jacob. Others are quoting Shakespeare’s what’s in a name.

No DNA. The King isn’t supposed cut.

And the late King Oyo’s sister and his aunt- his father’s sister- and others have gone to court because their relative - a cousin- has been named king yet King Oyo has a son. So King Oyo’s will must be done.

Raymond says it’s all good.

This kavuyo isn’t unusual.

Also, the polarisation is so wide and confusing that I don’t know where to turn.

Sigh.

May King Oyo find rest and eternal peace.

Sitting on that throne seems to have been an extreme sport.

Not easy at all.

These things will self correct.

Or

I’ll wait for Mzee to speak.

He’s seen it all- like he told me in a 2013 interview.

In the meantime, we are set to cover the King final journey.

God Bless Toro. God Bless Uganda.

[Ronald Amanyire @amronaldo]

What the Babiito are doing springs from a place of vanity, not legitimacy. The global fascination with Tooro did not come from the institution itself, it came from a child / young innocent King with the name Oyo and yet a Mutooro not a Northerner. Without him, Tooro would still have a neglected palace with little national attention, and the passing of any other cultural leader (outside the Kabaka) would not command this level of national or international mourning.

Tooro’s elevated status exists because of two people:

➡️the Queen Mother, whose discipline (or lack of it) and strategy shaped the institution, and

➡️Her son, whose charisma, grooming, and presence made him a global brand.

People are not mourning “the King of Tooro.” They are mourning King Oyo Nyimba Iguru Rukidi IV: the individual who defined the identity of the Kingdom for an entire generation.

Look at Bunyoro: it has a King and a Prime Minister, yet national visibility is minimal. When did the public last see the King of Bunyoro? Or hear from him. In this era, Oyo was their King — not just by title, but by influence, image, and cultural resonance. He was a brand unto himself, and yes, his grooming and appearance mattered because they shaped how the world perceived Tooro.

Whatever one thinks of the Queen Mother, she raised him into the man and monarch he became. That alone demands respect. Without her and without him, Tooro would not occupy the place it does today. And if they continue with this Kijanangoma, they will go back to oblivion. They are better off installing a son of Oyo and continue milking the fascination. On the other hand they may never get it back because of how the whole transition has materialized.

[Kemi💞 @SharonkBirungi]

This disorganization shows what has been happening in Tooro behind closed doors. Our Amooti must have fought battles. May God rest his soul💔

[Prof. V Baryamureeba @baryamureeba]

There must be a court injuction tomorrow morning to stop the Installation of the alleged new King of Tooro to allow for a judicial review of the whole process that has led to this alleged new King of Tooro.

1. Pres. @KagutaMuseveni was one of the regents of King Oyo and when King Oyo passed on he was informed by the Queen mother that he left a heir to the throne. This was confirmed by the Prime Minister of Tooro.
2. The Omusuuga objected strongly and stated that King Oyo didn't have a son and if he had one he would have told him. He used this as the reason for putting in place a committee to look backwards in the Tooro Kingdom lineage. Now if he was serious he would have asked for King Oyo's will. A will is more authoritative than word of mouth.
3. Now it is public knowledge that indeed King Oyo had more than one son and he also left a will. King Kaboyo succeeded his father because he was willed into the throne.
4. Kingdoms are cultural institutions. A king's decision in a kingdom can't be overuled by any any organ of the kingdom. So how does a committee of Omusuuga overide a will that was written by a King when he was alive? He knew he had terminal cancer and so having a will was obvious and the right thing to do.
5. The Omusuuga has gone against everything he told us. He even said that we shall know the new king during the burial ceremony but he has rushed out today on a Wednesday to make a rushed decision to preempt the facts. The Kings of Tooro are no jokes.. Even the one who read the statement when he reached the name of founding king of Tooro he got choked and failed and couldn't read it out his name several times.
5. Pres. Museveni in a public statement said that the heir of Tooro Kingdom shall wb introduced to the public at the right time. Now is the time. Th people of Tooro deserve justice and fairness. But most importantly King Oyo deserves justice even in death.
6. Greed, jealous, poverty etc can make even cultural leaders do the wrong things. That is why we have even a law regualiting cultural institution; institution of traditional or culture leaders act 2011.
7. Anybody who believed in King Oyo when he was alive should do so even in death. We need to protect his legacy and will. Tomorrow by 09.00am we need an excellent law firm to use all facts available and file for a court injuction so that the coronation can be halted to allow for a judicial review. After the judicial review, the right King can be installed. No need for a rush. The God of King Kabalega, King Ndahura and King Rumanyika take control and if need be act on those messing up Tooro Kingdom. I decree and declare justice for King Oyo through the God of his great ancestors. So be it.

[Ahabwe 🏀🇺🇬 @tragicanon]

You've got to love Princess Bagaya's loyalty to her brother! The lady can barely stand on her own strength, but she's still riding hard for her brother's widow and children as she's done from Day 1! Respect!!

[Muhoozi Kainerugaba @mkainerugaba]

I mourn for my beloved King Oyo. My heart is broken. I have wept since he passed. May our God Jesus Christ help me.