KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has ordered journalist and political commentator Andrew Mwenda to stop commenting on Tooro Kingdom affairs, intervening after days of increasingly bitter public exchanges over the succession to the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.
Kainerugaba issued the directive early on Tuesday, 15 September, in a post on X. “I have instructed comrade Andrew Mwenda not to speak about the issues of Tooro again. He will stop it immediately,” he wrote, adding: “Once again, as PLU, we commiserate with the great Batooro people on the tragedy that befell all of us. May the soul of the late King Oyo rest in peace.”
Mwenda, who belongs to the Babiito royal clan, had emerged as one of the most vocal commentators on Tooro’s succession dispute following King Oyo’s death on 27 August.
Early in the process, Mwenda publicly announced a name he described as the succession committee’s choice for the new king, a claim that clan leadership, including Musuuga (clan head) Charles Kamurasi, publicly disowned, insisting the kingdom’s succession process could not be determined through unilateral declarations.
The Babiito succession committee, chaired by Kamurasi, subsequently named Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma as the new Omukama — a decision Mwenda went on to defend publicly, while separately questioning claims made by Queen Mother Best Kemigisa and Princess Ruth Komuntale that King Oyo had left a son entitled to succeed him.
His commentary on the alleged heir drew sharp criticism. In one post, Mwenda argued that Tooro needed to know the identity and family background of the woman said to be the mother of King Oyo’s purported son before the kingdom could accept the child as a possible successor.
Those remarks prompted accusations from Ugandans online that Mwenda was using sexist and derogatory language while debating the succession.
On 14 September, Mwenda went further, accusing Kemigisa of mourning the loss of power rather than the loss of her son, alleging she had spent the mourning period trying to control the succession process, and challenging the royal family to produce the purported son publicly.
The escalating rhetoric drew intervention from senior figures. Agriculture Minister Frank Tumwebaze publicly appealed to Mwenda to stop attacking Kemigisa and to allow the royal family space to mourn King Oyo before continuing to argue over the throne, urging what he described as a ceasefire until after the burial.
Kemigisa herself had earlier singled out Mwenda directly, accusing a group of Babiito members of rushing to select a successor before her son had even been buried.
She said Mwenda had announced an initial choice for king while King Oyo’s body was still in Kyenjojo, en route to Fort Portal, and argued that the family should have been given time to mourn and to allow King Oyo’s will to be properly considered before any successor was announced.
Some observers close to the kingdom have pointed to a decade-old legal dispute involving Kemigisa and the late lawyer Bob Kasango, a former close business associate of Mwenda’s, as part of the backdrop to the increasingly personal tone of his recent commentary.
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Whether that history has directly shaped Mwenda’s position on the succession has not been established, and Mwenda has not publicly addressed the connection.
Kainerugaba’s intervention carries particular weight given his position as both a senior military officer and President Yoweri Museveni’s son, as well as head of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) political movement.
He has in recent months made a habit of issuing public directives on matters ranging from immigration policy to political disputes, and his statements are closely watched across Ugandan public life.
It remains to be seen whether Mwenda, a veteran journalist and publisher known for his outspoken commentary, will comply with the directive.
Neither Mwenda nor Tooro Kingdom officials had issued a further public statement at the time of filing.
