I begged God to take me instead — Queen Mother Kemigisa – Sqoop

For Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, watching her son King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru IV battle illness was a pain she could hardly bear.

As his condition deteriorated, Kemigisa said she found herself making an extraordinary plea to God — to take her life instead and spare her son.

“I really asked God to take me first when I was in the hospital instead of King Oyo. I begged God but He decided to take King Oyo first,” Kemigisa told mourners on Saturday.

She spoke during the funeral service for the late Omukama, led by the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, at the end of Tooro’s official nine-day mourning period.

Kemigisa said she struggled to understand why her prayers had not been answered, questioning whether God had a greater need for her son than for her.

“I asked myself if God needed him more than me. I prayed and He refused and I wondered, now what will I do,” she said.

But in the aftermath of Oyo’s death, she said she had reached a point of accepting what she could not change.

“Anyway, that was God’s will to take him. I can’t disagree with God,” she said.

The Queen Mother’s tribute came at a difficult point for Tooro, with the kingdom mourning Oyo while disagreements over his succession have dominated public discussion.

Rather than enter the succession debate, Kemigisa appealed to Tooro’s royal family and its people to protect the unity that she said had characterised the mourning period.

“Since we returned to Tooro, the region has been peaceful and calm with people mourning their king. Let’s remain united and peaceful for this king who was loved world over,” she said.

She also addressed the increasingly vocal discussions about the kingdom on social media, particularly platforms such as TikTok, where different opinions about the royal family and succession have circulated.

“The world has evolved and there’s TikTok where everyone has an opinion. Please do better while saying this and that about us. Show us love and we shall also extend love,” Kemigisa said.

She urged the public not to allow the current disagreements to destroy what Oyo left behind.

“Let’s not ruin the legacy of our king. We should keep developing our world,” she added.

Oyo’s death is the latest in a series of devastating losses suffered by the Queen Mother.

Kemigisa lost her husband, King Patrick Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, in 1995. His death resulted in the enthronement of Oyo, who became Tooro’s monarch as a child.

Two years later, in October 1997, she lost her daughter, Princess Celia Komukyeya, to leukaemia.

With Oyo now gone, Princess Ruth Komuntale remains her only surviving child.

Yet Kemigisa chose to look at her son’s life through the lens of his impact rather than only his death.

She said Oyo’s birth had been historic for Tooro and Uganda, and believed his death had also become another significant moment in the kingdom’s history.

“We thank God because our king was born and made history. Same has happened in his death. He lived a historic life that made Tooro and Uganda known much,” she said.

“Leave my son alone, God. Take me first. If I’m a bad person, take me,” Queen Mother Best Kemigisa says she recalls pleading with God to spare the late Omukama Oyo during the period of his illness.#NTVNews #RIPKingOyo pic.twitter.com/BmTBDIYMV9

— NTV UGANDA (@ntvuganda) September 12, 2026