At three and half years, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV ascended to the throne succeeding his father to become the 12th ruler of the over 180 year old Kingdom of Toro, in western Uganda.

His ascending to the throne in 1995 made him the youngest ruling monarch and went down in the Guinness Book of records taking the place of King Mswati of Swaziland who was crowned at 18 years of age.

After turning 18 on Friday, Ugandan law stipulates that King Oyo qualifies to be an adult and is capable of making independent decisions without necessarily depending on his regents.

James Murungi, his minister for protocol told Xinhua in an interview that from now onwards the teenage king would decide on cases brought before him by his subjects who total to about two million people.

"For long the people of Toro have prayed for their King to become of age so that he takes charge of his kingdom instead of depending on regents," he said. "In Toro, it means a lot. The King was enthroned at three and half years which has never happened in the history of Toro. We have seen him grow up to this age of 18. To us this is historical," he said.

DOWN TO EARTH KING

King Oyo could pass just like any other teenage boy. His friends treat him just like any other ordinary person.

He likes hanging out with friends and watching movies.

Football is one of his favorites. Just like any other teenager in Uganda, he argues a lot about football especially when his favorite English Premiere league team Arsenal is playing.

"When Arsenal is playing, I keep my eyes on the screen," he told the New Vision daily in a recent interview.

For him, turning 18 years will ease the tight supervision he has been kept under for years.

"For quite long, I have been under tight supervision, I hope this will reduce and I will be a free man,"  he said. INITIATION INTO ADULTHOOD

Multitudes of people from all walks of life both local and foreign on Friday thronged King Oyo' s palace patch on a hill over looking Fort Portal town. Kilometers away one can visibly see the ranges of the snow capped Mountain Rwenzori, one of the highest mountains in Africa.

Over 100 cultural leaders from Africa and the rest of the world traveled to the palace to witness the initiation process.

Several cultural rituals to initiate the king into adulthood were performed which include the ��Empango Hakaswa,�� which means sounding of royal drums.

"Empango is a ceremony that dates back to more than 100 years. Since the inception of the kingdom, we believe that for the king to be in existence there should be a drum sounded to alert people that the king is a live and sound," said Murungi.

The King was also told to drink fresh milk from a cow milked at a spot in the palace compound where it is believed that the leader of the Chwezi dynasty disappeared from.

The Chwezi dynasty is a mythical story of a pastoralist empire that existed in the fourteenth and fifteen century in the modern day of the Great Lakes region of Africa.

It is also reported that there are late night rituals that are performed but are not open to the public.

The youthful king on Friday hosted a party for his subjects signaling goodbye to childhood.

On Sunday, he will be handed judicial powers to decide cases brought to him by his subjects.

KING WITHOUT POWER

King Oyo like other traditional leaders in the country will remain a cultural figurehead without political powers.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni revived cultural institutions in 1993 on condition that they stick to performing cultural functions.

He said cultural leaders should not involve themselves in politics since their subjects are from different political backgrounds.

Cultural institutions were abolished in 1966 by the then Prime Minister Milton Obote after he had a sharp disagreement with the then President Edward Mutesa II who was also the King of Buganda, a cultural institution in central Uganda.

The government is currently working on a bill that includes a clause that not only bars kings and chiefs from engaging in politics but also prohibits politicians from riding on kingdoms.

The bill passed by Cabinet late last year comes at a time when government and Buganda Kingdom are in a thorny relationship. Museveni claims that the opposition is riding on the kingdom to tarnish the ruling National Resistance Movement Party.