Tooro Kingdom Subjects Burn Red Pepper Over Failed Komuntale Marriage

http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=57846

Tooro Kingdom subjects have this morning burnt copies of the Red Pepper newspaper in Fort Portal town protesting what they call negative publicity of the failed marriage of Princess Ruth Komuntale and Christopher Thomas.

Last week both Thomas Christopher and Princess Komuntale posted statements on their Facebook walls confirming that indeed their marriage was over. In her post, Komuntale accuses Thomas of being promiscuous and physically and emotionally abusive. The failed marriage attracted media attention.

This morning more than 15 members of the Tooro Local Parliament bought more than 200 copies of the Red Pepper and set them ablaze in the centre of Fort Portal town, as they sang the Tooro Kingdom anthem.

The Tooro Local Parliament is a pressure group that advocates for good governance and human rights in the Tooro region. It comprises of the youths. Tooro Local Parliament is not affiliated to the official Tooro Kingdom Parliament (Orukurato).

Alfred Kamanyire, the deputy speaker of the Tooro parliament, argues that it was wrong for the Red Pepper to publicise the failure of Princess Komuntale and Thomas's marriage with intimate details. He believes the publication was an insult to King Oyo and Tooro Kingdom.

According to Kamanyire, they will start a campaign to urge the Batooro to boycott buying the newspaper, which he says is a disgrace to Tooro.

//Cue in: “we request all the Batooro…
Cue out: “…destroyed our kingdom.”//

Vincent Mugume, the Tooro Kingdom deputy information minister, told Uganda Radio Network that the actions of the members was justified, because any attack on the King is an attack on the Batooro. He also said that although it’s true that the marriage had ended, some of the stories published by the Red Pepper were false.

The Red Pepper News Editor, Ben Byarabaha, said that the publication has been fair to the Princess Komuntale and Tooro Kingdom. He said that what was published by Red Pepper was sourced from Princess Komuntale and Christopher Thomas's facebook walls. Therefore its wrong for the members of the Tooro Local Parliament to burn copies of the paper. He also said that by burning the copies, they are depriving the people of Tooro information.

In 2009, the Buganda Kingdom, Lukiiko urged the people of Buganda to boycott buying Bukedde and the New Vision newspapers, over a story it published alleging that a cabinet Minister in the central government was holding the Bulange land title over a one billion shilling debt the Kabaka Ronald Mutebi had obtained from the unnamed Minister to run his private business.