Бывший разведчик Уганды призвал королевство Туру к ритуальным очищениям после смерти двух королей

Retired Ugandan military officer and former intelligence chief David Sejusa has urged Tooro Kingdom to undertake traditional spiritual cleansing rites, saying the deaths of two young kings in succession have left a “shadow of death” over the royal family. “Here, we are dealing with A SHADOW OF DEATH that hovers over a royal court,” Sejusa said in a statement framed as advice from an elder to the kingdom. Sejusa said the situation should not be treated as an ordinary royal death because Queen Mother Best Kemigisa has now buried both her husband, King Patrick Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, and her son, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, both of whom died relatively young. “Her situation is not an ordinary situation of a royal death,” he said. “She has buried both her husband and her son, both of them young Kings.” He argued that, under what he described as Abatembuzi-Chwezi traditions, successive deaths within a royal household could be interpreted as a sign of spiritual pollution requiring special cleansing rites. “This is not what is ordinarily referred to as Obuguute or Emirwa,” Sejusa said, referring to what he described as less serious forms of spiritual disturbance. “It is what is called Obwirirane.” Sejusa said the kingdom should therefore undertake purification rites at several levels, including across the wider kingdom, at the royal court, for the Queen Mother and for the incoming king. “For the whole Kingdom, all heads of households should shave their heads,” he said, adding that families should also slaughter the main bull, or “Engundu”, and take the first-produced cow’s milk in an Ekyanzi to the royal court. At the royal court, Sejusa proposed more extensive rites. “All men and women at the royal court should shave all their hair,” he said. He also called for the lighting of the royal fire, or Orwoto, outside the palace and opposite the main entrance, citing what he described as a historical precedent following “Obweeme” during the reign of Omuchwezi Ndahura. Sejusa said further rites should be performed in the nine days before the burial, including offerings involving a white bull, a white goat and nine coffee berries each day. “There are many other rites to be performed, but I will not go into details of how, when and by whom they should be performed,” he said. He also prescribed special rites for Queen Mother Kemigisa. “The Queen Mother should shave all her hair,” Sejusa said, adding that before the burial of her son she should remove her mourning clothes and have them disposed of by the court diviner. She should then undergo a prescribed bath, after which, he said, she would assume the role of a purified elder and counsellor. “She then becomes a Nyangoma, a purified elder, and should cease from active affairs of the Kingdom,” Sejusa said, while adding that there were “other rites” he would not disclose. Extensive rituals Sejusa said the incoming king would also require extensive rituals intended to restore what he called “cosmological equilibrium” and “Obugwagye”. “The new King is normally stopped from seeing the body of the deceased King,” he said. He said other rites involving milk and the royal fire should follow the burial, alongside cleansing using specified water and herbs. “There is a profound ritual before sounding the royal drums,” Sejusa said. “This is meant to restore cosmological equilibrium.” Without such rites, he argued, “there is no balance between the earthly and spiritual realms,” a situation he linked to potential calamities. Sejusa acknowledged that some people may dismiss such practices because of Christianity or modern beliefs. “Some may sneer at these rituals because of Christianity,” he said. “But it is foolish to sneer at these rites while at the same time worshipping and cherishing the institution of kingship that these rites left behind.” His comments come as Tooro prepares for the next phase of its royal succession following the death of King Oyo, with the kingdom balancing traditional cultural practices, the expectations of the royal family and its formal succession structures. Sejusa’s proposed cleansing rites reflect traditional and spiritual beliefs and are not medical or scientific measures. There is no scientific evidence that ritual cleansing can prevent illness or death.