📷 King Oyo's funeral procession breaks the silence of quiet Kyegegwa town

 ________________ 

Faces were etched with sorrow. Some mourners wept uncontrollably, while others stood silently, their eyes fixed on two military helicopters, one of which carried the casket with the body of Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, King of Tooro.

The sun was unquestionably bright over Humura Grounds in Kyegegwa Town Council on Friday afternoon, bathing the expansive grounds and the thousands gathered there. But there was little warmth in the mood.

Grief hung heavily over the crowd as two military helicopters from Entebbe Airport touched down at Humura shortly after 2pm.

The surging huge crowds had come to receive the remains of their king.

For many, however, the moment the body arrived was when the reality of their king's death finally sank in.

The military personnel helped Princess Elizabeth Bagaya out of the first helicopter, which also carried Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, her daughter Princess Komuntale and Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki, and kingdom officials.

The journalists scrambled for photographs and videos. Drones hovered overhead, while security personnel struggled to maintain order around the royal procession.

Men dressed smartly in royal and traditional attire carefully carried the body and placed it inside a 4Matic vehicle, whose number plate was covered by a royal guard shield.

Moses Asiimwe, a police officer who helped carry the body from the helicopter, said the experience was painful but also a profound honour.

“It hurts to carry a king who is lifeless, but it is also an honour to have been selected for the task. It is a life history to remember,” he said.

Diana Ninsiima, 18, from Mulwera in Kyegegwa sub-county, said she had initially believed reports of the king's death were a hoax.

“I thought it was not true until I saw the helicopter arrive with his body,” she said.

Ninsiima had grown up admiring Oyo and had hoped that one day she would meet him and tell him how much he inspired her.

Instead, she stood among thousands of mourners, waiting to pay their last respects.

“I can’t believe a young man has just left the world when the majority of his dreams are left incomplete,” he said.

Karuhanga had a personal connection to the royal family. He recalled how Oyo's father, the late King Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, promoted him to become a county chief of Kyaka.

He also remembered seeing the young Oyo waving at subjects as he travelled towards Kampala.

“The last day he was here, he asked people to work hard. The message was that no one should die of hunger,” Karuhanga recalled.

Patrick Ntale Atwooki, a member of the Babiito royal clan from Kyaka County, said Oyo had been a pillar of Tooro's cultural and socio-economic development.

“We have a lot of pain for the death of our king, who has been a pillar of cultural and socio-economic development,” he said.

Ntale pointed to Oyo's support for agriculture, including efforts to encourage young people to engage in production and the distribution of coffee seedlings across the kingdom.

He also remembered the king's support for health programmes, including the fight against HIV/AIDS, as well as sports such as Masaza and clan competitions that brought people together.

Oyo was born on April 16, 1992. Following the death of his father in 1995, he inherited the throne at just three years old and was enthroned on September 12 of the same year.

For more than three decades, he remained at the centre of Tooro's cultural life.

His death came on August 27, 2026, at about 10pm, while he was receiving medical treatment at a hospital in the United States. He was 34.

President Yoweri Museveni later said Oyo had been battling aggressive cancer and that the government had supported his treatment, first in Germany and later in the United States.

At trading centres and urban settlements along the route, people lined both sides of the road. Men, women and children stood patiently, some dressed in traditional attire, others holding their phones high to capture the historic procession.

They waved as the convoy passed. Some shed tears. Others simply stood in silence. For many, it was an experience they had never witnessed in their lifetime.

The normally busy highway became jammed with people and vehicles. At some points, security personnel prevented vehicles from getting too close to the car carrying the casket.

For journalists, every bend in the road became a calculation: where would the convoy slow down? Where would the crowds be largest? Where would the most powerful images emerge?

In Kyenjonjo town, where the procession reached a few minutes past 5pm, weeping subjects lined up the streets to pay their last respects. Others used their phones to record every bit. The crowds yelled ''Gutusingire Agutamba. Tulinzire Kubi (We are guilty our king we did not protect you enough).

From Kyenjonjo to Fort Portal City, the procession kept growing as subjects on motorbikes and in personal cars escorted the king’s body to Karuziika, where  the hearse arrived at  6:40 pm.