Ankole Kingdom has today named Prince Charles Rwebishengye Barigye as the new heir to the Ankole throne. Rwebishengye is one of the sons of Price John Patrick Barigye who passed away at a Nairobi hospital on Friday.

The Prime minister of Ankole, William Katatumba says Rwebishengye was named after reading late Barigye’s will before the royal family in Mbarara.

Katatumba says Prince Rwebishengye will be assisted by Katatumba himself, Enock Rukidi, Gen. David Tinyefuza, Enos Tumusiime and Barigye’s daughter, Princess Rosemary Kirungi who will execute the deceased’s will.

Barigye died at Agha Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya where he had been undergoing treatment for kidney related complications. Prince Barigye was 71.

Prince Barigye who is the Omugabe of Ankole was crowned king of the most populous western Uganda tribe in 1993 but the government of president Yoweri Museveni shortly declared the kingdom non-existent and it has never been reinstated up to this day. Museveni is a Munyankole from Ankole Kingdom.

The Ankole kingdom like other Ugandans cultural kingdoms was banned by the Obote 1 government. While many other kingdoms were restored after the 1993 restitutions of Cultural Institutions Act, Ankole was suspiciously not allowed to operate again as a kingdom. Prince Barigye thus lived as a king that wasn’t a king and his legacy as a monarch is an unclear one.