MISLEADING: Does Museveni’s Family Really Spend UGX 2.9 Billion Every Day?

A viral TikTok post claims that Gen. Museveni’s family has a budget of about UGX 2.9 billion every single day. So they eat 1 Rolls Royce and 2 range rover sport everyday! Now they are fighting corruption!

And honestly, it is the kind of claim that can easily make people angry, especially ordinary Ugandans who wake up every day to hustle, pay taxes, and hope public money is being used to improve their lives, only to come across posts suggesting that the same money is being wasted by people in power.

But where did this 2.9 billion figure actually come from?

We investigated the claim using official State House budget documents, previous media reports, and parliamentary budget discussions.

And here is what we found.

The number did not come from nowhere.

Using the Debunk Information Verifier, a tool designed to verify online claims, we investigated the viral statement by searching key phrases related to the claim.

One of the results led us to previous reports from Daily Monitor and The Observer discussing State House expenditure and supplementary budgets.

In January 2023, The Observer published a story claiming that the State House was spending about UGX 2.8 billion per day. The calculation came after Uganda’s State House budget reportedly crossed UGX 1 trillion during the COVID-19 period following large supplementary budget allocations.

When that amount was divided by 365 days, it produced a figure close to UGX 2.8 billion per day, almost the same number now circulating on TikTok.

So yes, there is a real origin behind the viral figure.

But there is an important detail missing from the TikTok posts:
That figure came from the peak COVID budget period after emergency supplementary allocations were added. It is not the current approved daily spending figure.

According to the official FY2023/24 State House Budget Framework Paper, the proposed State House allocation was about UGX 419.9 billion for the whole year. Divided by 365 days:

UGX 419.9 billion ÷ 365 = approximately UGX 1.15 billion per day

Even when using the much higher FY2022/23 approved budget of UGX 682.1 billion, the daily average would still be around UGX 1.87 billion per day, still below the viral 2.9 billion claim.

So while the figure has roots in real public budget debates, the version circulating online appears exaggerated and outdated.

Another important issue is the wording.

The viral posts describe this as:

“Museveni family spending.”

But the official documents describe State House as a government institution with security operations, transport and logistics, administration, foreign trips, presidential programmes, diplomatic activities, welfare services, and other government operations.

That does not automatically mean the spending is justified. Many Ugandans still question why the State House receives such huge allocations while hospitals, schools and roads continue facing challenges.

And those concerns are legitimate.

In fact, critics have repeatedly questioned the growing State House budget, large supplementary allocations, classified expenditures, and the overall priorities of government spending.

But saying:

“Museveni’s family eats Rolls Royces every day”

turns a government institutional budget into a personal family allowance, which is misleading.

The post also claims that State House “eats one Rolls Royce and two Range Rover Sports every day.”

So we decided to test that claim using actual market prices.

A fully loaded Rolls Royce Phantom costs around UGX 2.6 billion, while two high-end Range Rover Sports would cost roughly UGX 1.3 billion combined.

That brings the total to around UGX 4 billion in just luxury cars alone.

Ironically, that amount is actually higher than the viral 2.9 billion claim itself, and almost four times larger than the current documented daily State House budget of roughly UGX 1.15 billion.

In simple terms:
Even if State House spent its entire documented daily budget on luxury cars alone, it still would not buy “one Rolls Royce and two Range Rovers every day” as the post suggests.

So the comparison works more as political sarcasm than literal accounting.
The Rolls Royce comparison also appears to draw from recent public controversies around luxury vehicles owned by top government officials, especially the online debate surrounding Speaker Anita Among’s Rolls Royce.

That context likely made the claim more emotionally powerful to Ugandan audiences already frustrated by high government spending and economic hardship.

But perhaps the most important issue with the viral post is the framing itself.

The post turns government institutional expenditure into personal family spending and those are not the same thing.

According to the official State House budget documents, and the Office of the President documents, the money is divided into several categories.

About UGX 172 billion goes toward logistical and administrative support to the Presidency. That includes, presidential security, transport, welfare, foreign trips, hosting dignitaries, and state functions.

Another UGX 175 billion goes toward salaries, administration, maintenance of State House facilities and vehicles, and infrastructure upgrades under a programme called “Retooling of State House.”

The budget also includes around UGX 72 billion for presidential initiatives such as, youth skilling programmes, industrial hubs, support to model villages, school fees for State House-sponsored students, and poverty alleviation activities.

In fact, official documents show that nearly UGX 68 billion under this section is earmarked for vocational training programmes for young people.

None of these allocations are officially described as private family spending for the Museveni family.

However, that does not mean public concerns about the spending are invalid.

Questions about the rapid growth of the State House budget have persisted for years.

State House spending reportedly grew from about UGX 497 billion in 2019 to over UGX 1 trillion during the COVID-19 period after large supplementary budgets were added.

Even though the FY2023/24 allocation later dropped to around UGX 420 billion, official projections show it could rise again toward UGX 685 billion in the coming years.

There are also concerns about priorities.

Uganda’s entire health sector budget for FY2023/24 was about UGX 4 trillion, meaning the State House alone receives close to 10% of what the whole health sector gets.

Civil society organisations and opposition MPs have also repeatedly criticised the use of supplementary budgets and classified expenditure, arguing that some allocations receive limited parliamentary scrutiny.

So while the viral post exaggerates and oversimplifies the issue, the wider public debate about government spending priorities remains very real.

Methodology

To investigate the viral claim, we first identified the exact wording and claims being shared on TikTok, including the comparisons involving Rolls Royce and Range Rover vehicles.

We then used the Debunk Information Verifier, a tool designed to verify online claims, to search key phrases related to the viral statement. The search led us to previous media reports from Daily Monitor and The Observer discussing State House expenditure, supplementary budgets, and parliamentary debates surrounding presidential spending.

To verify the numbers independently, we reviewed official Ugandan government budget documents, including, the State House FY2023/24 Budget Framework Paper, Office of the President budget documents, approved national budget spreadsheets from previous financial years, and medium-term expenditure projections published by the Ministry of Finance.

We compared annual allocations, supplementary budget figures, projected expenditures, and daily spending calculations obtained by dividing annual allocations by 365 days.

We also reviewed how the viral posts framed the issue and compared that language with the wording used in official government budget documents.

To assess the “Rolls Royce and Range Rover” comparison, we cross-checked publicly available market prices for high-end Rolls Royce Phantom and Range Rover Sport models to determine whether the comparison was mathematically realistic.

Finally, we compared State House allocations with broader public spending concerns raised in media reports, parliamentary discussions, and civil society commentary, particularly around healthcare, supplementary budgets, and classified expenditure.

VERDICT: MISLEADING. The viral claim is built around real concerns about Uganda’s State House expenditure, and the figure itself appears to trace back to older budget calculations made during the COVID-19 period.

However, the post exaggerates the current figures and misleadingly frames institutional government spending as direct personal family spending.