FORT PORTAL, Uganda — Tooro Kingdom’s Prince David Kijanangoma Araali has died at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Mulago, Kampala, after a long battle with throat cancer, in a fresh loss for the royal family less than three weeks after the death of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.
Kijanangoma’s death on Tuesday was confirmed by Tooro Kingdom spokesperson Vincent Mugume, as well as by family associate Andrew Irumba. He was an elder brother of Prince Edward Kijanangoma Amooti, who was named the kingdom’s new Omukama by the Babiito Clan Succession Committee on 9 September.
Kijanangoma had been battling Stage Three throat cancer for more than a year. In April, his family publicly appealed for financial support, saying he needed several hundred million shillings for specialised treatment in India after chemotherapy at Nakasero Hospital and the Uganda Cancer Institute proved insufficient to halt the disease’s progression.
His illness later drew wider public attention when images emerged showing him lying on the floor at Mulago while he waited for a hospital bed amid ward congestion.
Announcing the death, King Edward said he was mourning the loss of his elder brother, describing him as having lost a long battle with cancer.
Kijanangoma was a prominent, and at times controversial, figure in Tooro affairs. A grandson of former Tooro king Sir George David Rukidi III, he spent part of the 1990s in the United States, where he studied and worked, before returning to Uganda in 2007. He became increasingly involved in the kingdom’s affairs from around 2012.
In 2015, Kijanangoma publicly challenged the reign of his cousin, King Oyo, accusing him of neglecting his duties as an “absentee king” who spent much of his time away from Tooro in Kampala.
He went as far as declaring himself the rightful king, a claim that triggered a bitter dispute within the royal family. He also accused Queen Mother Best Kemigisa of interfering in the kingdom’s governance and mismanaging its affairs, including allegations relating to the disposal of kingdom land.
The dispute placed Kijanangoma at odds with the royal establishment for a period, though it was later reported to have been resolved, with the two princes reconciling in the years that followed.
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Tuesday’s death is not the first tragedy to befall the Kijanangoma family. His elder brother, Prince Charles Happy Kijanangoma, was killed in Fort Portal in 1999.
Kijanangoma’s death comes at a delicate moment for Tooro. King Oyo died on 27 August in the United States, aged 34, after being treated for cancer, and was buried on 12 September at the Karambi Royal Tombs following a succession process that generated significant controversy within the Babiito clan before Edward Kijanangoma Amooti was ultimately confirmed as the new Omukama.
With the kingdom still processing the loss of its former king and the contested transition to a new one, Prince David Kijanangoma’s death adds a further layer of grief to an already difficult period for Tooro’s royal family.
Details of his burial arrangements are expected to be announced by the family and Tooro Kingdom authorities in the coming days.
