A non-league footballer who “revs up teammates with F-bombs in a thick London accent” has become the “unlikely successor to the throne of a traditional kingdom in Uganda”, said The Times.
George Desmond Kamurasi, captain and goalkeeper of SE Dons in Bexleyheath, southeast London, is a first cousin of the Tooro sub-region’s late king and a grandson of King George David Matthew Kamurasi Rukidi III, who ruled between 1928 and 1965.
The kingdom’s royal succession committee selected Kamurasi following the death of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who had occupied the throne in Tooro since 1995 after succeeding his father at the age of three.
Oyo’s death prompted an “outpouring of grief” across Tooro and Uganda, said news site UG Diplomat. The nation’s president, Yoweri Museveni, described him as a “good person and a good leader”, whose death was “a great loss to the people of Tooro and Uganda”.
In contrast to Oyo, Kamurasi has spent most of his adulthood in Britain, “building a life largely outside Uganda’s royal spotlight”, said Pulse Uganda.
The succession committee settled on Kamurasi last week, with 15 of the 18 members present voting for him, and a formal proclamation is expected after Oyo’s burial this weekend.
He’s “said to be reluctant to swap his goalkeeping gloves for the crown”, said The Times. But if the decision is officially confirmed and he accepts the role, the “qualities” he preached on the football pitch – such as “discipline, resilience, accountability and hunger for success” – will then be “tested on a much bigger stage”, added Pulse. |
