Uganda

Key Takeaways: Cost of Politics

Population: 45.4 million
Head of Government: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
Ruling party/coalition: National Resistance Movement
Last election: January 2021
Next election: 2026
Years of studies: 2016 and 2020
Registered voters: 17.6 million (2020)
Annual salary of member of legislature: UGX 360 million (US$102,531)
Years of studies: 2016 and 2020

Average cost to get elected to parliament:

US$136,084

Total average cost to get elected to parliament as % of annual MP salary:

132%

Main source of funding:

Personal resources

Annual expenditure in office to meet constituents needs:

US$112,356

61% of survey respondents think women are disadvantaged by the high cost of politics

61%

50% of survey respondents think youth are disadvantaged by high cost of politics

77% percentage of candidates said they will spend more if they contest another election

77%

Key Findings

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Election campaigns

The average amount of money spent by participants during the party primary elections ahead of the 2016 general elections was UGX 222 million (USD 64,969).
An analysis of the costs of running in party primaries by political parties showed a marked difference between the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and opposition parties. NRM parliamentary aspirants spent UGX 232 million with the Democratic Party at UGX 141 million, Forum for Democratic Change at UGX 85 million, Peopl'e Progressive Party at UGX 11 million and Uganda People's Congress at UGX 46 million.
The average amount of money spent during the parliamentary and LCV elections ahead of the 2016 general elections was UGX 242.9 million (USD 71,085).
Mainstream male parliamentary aspirants spent UGX 212 million while their female mainstream counterparts spent UGX 307 million. Candidates for the affirmative action women parliamentary seats spent UGX 247 million.
Overall, the average amount of money spent by a candidate during the 2016 primary and general elections was estimated by the study to be UGX 465 million (USD 136,084).
Parliamentary candidates in the Western region spent the highest, up to UGX 570m over both the primary and general elections, whilst aspirants contesting in the Eastern region recorded the lowest levels at UGX 315m.

In office

The average cost of maintaining office monthly is UGX 32 million (USD 8,850) for parliamentary office holders. A legislatures monthly salary is UGX30 million.
MPs spent up to 41% of their monthly outlays on all sorts of social contributions such as donating to savings and credit cooperative societies, paying for constituent medical bills and school fees, meeting burial expenses, and paying influential persons in the constituency.
Overall, the most expensive region in which to hold a political position was the Central region at UGX 48 million, followed by Western at UGX 30 million, Northern at UGX 28 million and Eastern at UGX 25 million.

Raising the funds

Personal resources and contributions from family and friends topped the sources of campaign finances for respondents with 98.6% and 74.3%.
Less than half of aspirants received funds from their political party (43%). Here there was notable gender disparity with 68.9% of male respondents securing funding from their political parties as opposed to 30.1% of female respondents

Impacts and implications of rising costs

Local political actors have been shrewd to cry foul and convince the citizens that much of the authority over local government fiscal space has been recentralised, leaving them with mainly conditioned funding. This has meant that the centre is seen as responsible for the delivery of services and MPs with the responsibility for addressing service delivery issues either through lobbying the centre or paying for the cost of the services. Where citizens notice service delivery inadequacies, the first line of contact is not the local government leaders but rather their MP.
Many of the MP respondents continue to believe that their emoluments and privileges are meagre compared with the demands from their constituents.
While there are legal and institutional arrangements to support detection and deterrence of money in politics, the country’s electoral commission lacks the capacity to enforce the existing legislations. This is due to a litany of factors, most of which rotate around the country’s political system.
Political parties and organisations are only visible at the national level and lack social rootedness at the sub-national level. Although these structures resurrect towards electoral times, they do so only to serve the interests of the political elites. The absence of structures at the sub-national level means that political elites emerge either on individual merit or because of local political issues and less because of political party support.
Despite Uganda’s youthful population, its political class does not reflect this and the costs of entering politics are prohibitive for many youth, or ‘ordinary’ Ugandans
Politics – during elections and in the interim – is increasingly transactional and less focused on wider development issues.
With over 50% of MPs serving only one term, and their monthly expenditure exceeding their official salary, the need to recoup on investment can increase the likelihood of engaging in corrupt actions.
The existing cultural institutions nurture women and men differently, conferring gender-differentiated social capital that limits women’s effectiveness in politics.

Recommendations

Political accountability must be strengthened at the local level to transfer the responsibility for public service delivery and accountability back to the hands of local government leaders.
Strengthen the Electoral Commission’s capacity to regulate and supervise political parties and organisations.
Reposition the judiciary to play a critical role in deterring the commercialisation of politics. The judiciary can better enforce laws around electoral bribery that will serve as a deterrent.

Read the 2020 report (English) Read the 2016 brief (English)

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