Kampala. President Museveni is estimated to have spent a minimum of Ugsh773b to secure a fifth elective term in office, a report by activists who tracked the money that was poured into the 2016 campaigns, has revealed.
Mr Museveni’s spending was followed by the Go Forward’s Amama Mbabazi, who is estimated to have used Ugsh66b to market his first-time bid for the presidency.
FDC flag bearer Kizza Besigye, who was the runner-up in the election, is estimated to have used Ugsh15b to traverse the 112 districts.Dr Besigye collected Shs97m from his supporters.
The other five candidates are estimated to have spent less than a billion shillings each.
Prof Venansious Baryamureeba Ugsh1.5b, Benon Biraaro Ugsh871m, Abed Bwanika Ugsh841m, Joseph Mabirizi Ugsh435m and Maureen Kyalya Ugsh67m.
This money does not include the nomination fees paid to the Electoral Commission.
The report by Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring (ACFIM), a loose coalition of CSO activists, is based on data that was collected from a sample of 16 districts throughout the three-month campaign period and extrapolated to cover all 112 districts in the country.
The sampled districts were; Kampala, Luweero, Masaka, Iganga, Nwoya, Hoima, Kanungu, Kabarole, Apac, Bushenyi, Kabale, Kabarole, Lira, Katakwi, Moroto and Arua. ACFIM estimates that presidential candidates spent a combined total of at least Shs857b to run their campaigns, excluding money that was spent at national level to for instance, convening delegates’ conferences and holding party primaries.
The report notes that spending on selected campaign material such as branded paraphernalia accounted for the biggest chunk of presidential candidates’ expenditure. (NMG)