Written By | Staff Writer
Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma
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In 1999, Prince Charles Happy Kijanangoma, a member of Tooro’s Babiito royal clan, was shot dead at a bar in Fort Portal in a murder that became one of the most politically charged cases in the history of the restored Tooro Kingdom.
Kijanangoma was killed on the night of March 25, 1999, at Palace View Bar in Fort Portal, where he had gone for drinks with a friend. The Uganda Supreme Court later established that Alex Twinomugisha, one of the men convicted in the case, shot Kijanangoma at the bar. The night watchman, Stephen Kaganda, was also shot dead, while another person at the scene was wounded.
The murder came amid a bitter power struggle within the Tooro Kingdom following the death of King Patrick Olimi Kaboyo in 1995 and the installation of his three-year-old son, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.
John Sanyu Katuramu, who had served as Tooro Kingdom prime minister under Kaboyo, became one of the regents governing the kingdom on behalf of the young king. The Supreme Court said a rift developed between Katuramu and members of the royal family, including Princess Elizabeth Bagaya and Prince Kijanangoma.
The dispute involved both control of the kingdom and disagreements over royal property. Members of the royal family wanted Katuramu removed as prime minister and regent, while some of the kingdom’s property disputes ended up in court.
Kijanangoma was in Fort Portal on March 25 to attend one of the court proceedings involving the kingdom’s property. Before his death, he had reportedly warned an acquaintance that he had received information that Katuramu was planning to have him killed.
Later that evening, at about 9pm, Kijanangoma was drinking at Palace View Bar. According to the Supreme Court judgment, a stranger entered the bar and whispered to Twinomugisha, who then left with him. They returned shortly afterwards, and Twinomugisha shot Kijanangoma from about five metres away. Kijanangoma died instantly.
The attackers then shot the bar’s night watchman, Kaganda, as they fled.
The investigation eventually led to Katuramu, Twinomugisha and Patrick Kwezi. Kwezi was accused of transmitting money to the killers, while Twinomugisha was identified as the gunman. The three were convicted of the murders.
The High Court sentenced them to death in 2001. The convictions were subsequently challenged, but the Supreme Court upheld them in 2003.
Katuramu’s death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment following the Supreme Court’s decision on the application of the death penalty. He was released from Luzira Prison in 2021 after serving about 20 years.
Prince Happy Kijanangoma was a member of the Kijanangoma branch of the Tooro royal family. His killing has remained a defining episode in the family’s history and in the political struggles that followed the restoration of the Tooro monarchy.
More than two decades later, the Kijanangoma branch has returned to the centre of Tooro’s succession politics after Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, Happy’s brother, was selected in September 2026 as the successor to the late King Oyo.
The Babiito royal clan selected Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma as Oyo’s successor on September 8, 2026, and the Tooro Kingdom Supreme Council subsequently endorsed the decision on September 15. His selection has, however, been contested by some members of Oyo’s immediate family, making the succession another significant chapter in the history of the Tooro monarchy.
