)
)
NUP President Bobi Wine on Monday launched a fundraising campaign to enable the party to prepare for the upcoming general elections.
The opposition leader admitted at the launch that his party was falling behind the ruling NRM party and President Museveni in preparations for the 2026 elections, so much so that they could not even afford printing campaign posters.
Dire Financial Straits Revealed
“I have to tell you that very recently we checked in our accounts and there was only Shs 20million,” he said.
)
)
)
“And yet the government went and increased the presidential nomination fee to Shs 20million. So we were asking ourselves if we should use the money just for my nomination.”
“Our accounts are dry, and yet when you look at Museveni, he is putting up billboards all over the country. I also need to raise the level,” added Bobi Wine.
NUP President Bobi Wine
Impact of New Funding Law
The NUP’s financing recently took a big hit after Parliament enacted the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Act, 2025, in May.
The new law recently signed by President Museveni ties government funding to political parties’ adherence to democratic principles — including tolerance, peaceful co-existence, and active participation in the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD).
It amends Section 14 of the Political Parties and Organisations Act to restrict funding only to those political parties represented in Parliament and compliant with the new conditions.
The move is widely expected to hit NUP hardest as it has been relying on public funds for mobilisation, party administration, recruitment of new members, media campaigns, opening grassroots branches across Uganda and engagement with the diaspora.
The party, which has consistently refused to join IPOD, citing its alignment with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), currently receives over Shs 3.1 billion annually from the government under the public funding scheme for parties with parliamentary representation.
Targeting the Opposition
Bobi Wine said on Monday that the new law specifically targeted his party.
“It was brought because when we came forward, we started that our primary goal was to overthrow Museveni’s government. We refused to sit with him,” he said.
“Some people in the government tell us that he (Museveni) was furious over how a government can continue to fund its own downfall.”
Bobi Wine launched a committee that will spearhead the fundraising drive through which members can donate to its cause. The committee is led by Hon Ronald Balimwezo Nsubuga, deputised by Fatumah Kassim