Rwebishengye is new Ankole prince

LESS than a week after the passing on of its leader, Prince John Patrick Barigye, the Ankole kingdom has named his son, Charles Aryaija Rwebishengye heir to the crown.

Twenty-year-old Aryaija, the second son among nine children of the deceased, is a Social Work and Social Administration (SWASA) student of Uganda Christian University in Mukono district.

He was named heir to the crown in a Will two months before the death of his father, Prince Barigye, according to the kingdom’s premier George William Katatumba.

Barigye breathed his last on Friday last week at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya and will be put to rest this Sunday.

The Will

As if he had foreseen that his end was drawing closer, Barigye made the Will on August, 7 this year, indicating his most prefered choice to take up his inheritance – Aryaija.

Katatumba disclosed that the Will had been in secret custody of lawyers whom he declined to publicly identify, adding that the family and elders of Ankole attended the meeting held at a hotel in Kampala where the Will was opened.

"When we found him in the Will, he was given a special seat and his brothers and sisters, elders and other close family members congratulated him," Katatumba said.

Described as a social, intelligent and a people's person, Rwebishengye will be crowned as prince of Ankole on Monday after the burial of his father.