H.M. the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara

His Majesty Rukirabasaija Agutamba Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I, by The Grace of God, Omukama of The Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara, Ruler of Hoima, Masindi, Kibaale, Buliisa and Kiryandongo, The Grandson of Kabalega, The Healer, The Orphan Protector, The Hater of Rebellion, The Lion of Bunyoro, The Hero of Bunyoro, The Hero of Kabalega, etc. etc. etc. – is the 49th Omukama of The Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara, 27th Omukama in The Babiito Dynasty, The Sovereign Head of The Royal Order of Omujwaara Kondo and The Royal Order of Engabu, and The Sovereign Head, Grand Master and Protector of The Most Honourable Order of Omukama Chwa II Kabalega.

Born in 1948, the son of Omukama Sir Tito Gafabusa Winyi IV, CBE, His Majesty acceded to the throne upon the restoration of the Ugandan monarchies under Statute 8 of 1993 and is constitutionally recognized under Chapter 16, Section 246 of the Ugandan Constitution of 1995. Under Amendment (No. 2) Act 1995 His Majesty is the titular head of the Parliament (Orukurato), which is the supreme decision-making assembly of Bunyoro-Kitara, and opens, addresses and closes its sessions. With his seat at the Karuziika Palace, Hoima, he is married to the Omugo of Bunyoro, Margaret Karunga.

Until 1899, the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom was an independent nation and an absolute monarchy. Under British colonial rule, it was one of the subnational kingdoms recognized as a part of the new federal nation of Uganda (see the Bunyoro Agreements of 1933 and 1955). Notwithstanding their change in position from absolute to constitutional monarchy, the Omukamas did not renounce their ancestral rights or cede their sovereignty. Under the principle of prescription, the Omukamas maintained their historic dynastic rights and fons honorum in full. This applied even when Uganda fell under a dictatorship with the kingdoms forcibly abolished between 1967 and 1993. Consequently H.M. the Omukama today preserves full de jure sovereignty with all the rights, privileges and royal honours of such, because both he and his ancestors obeyed international jurisprudence preserving such rights in perpetuity.

In the modern era, Uganda acted to restore its kingdoms in 1993, paving the way for H.M. Omukama Rukirabasaija Agutamba Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I to be restored to the throne in 1994 as the 27th Omukama of the Babiito dynasty. H.M. the Omukama exercises his sovereignty within the provisions of the Ugandan Constitution, which both establishes the Parliament (Orukurato) of the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom as the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom,  and gives His Majesty the power to convene, address and dissolve the Orukurato. H.M. the Omukama is therefore correctly described as a reigning sovereign monarch of a sub-national constitutional monarchy, with his position being comparable to a number of other constitutional monarchs in Africa and Europe.