A recent financial report regarding the country's main political parties - Jubilee and Orange Democratic Movement, painted a clear picture of how the ruling party bagged their August 8, 2017 elections win.
According to the report by The Standard, President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee party outspent Raila Odinga's ODM by over Ksh1 billion.
Despite Raila's party being part of the National Super Alliance (NASA) movement which included Musalia Mudavadi's Amani National Congress (ANC) and Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper Democratic Movement, Uhuru and his deputy, William Ruto, still outspent their rivals in the lead up to the 2017 general elections.
In the period preceding the August 2017 elections, Jubilee party had Ksh1.4 billion at its disposal, while their main rivals had a paltry Ksh434 million, the report stated.
The Ksh1 billion war chest difference proved vital in the end as Uhuru and Ruto could simply afford to spend a lot more than their rivals in their bid to bag the elections for the second time in a row.
Raila's party tried their best to raise funds using the party’s ticket to run for president set at Ksh1 million, governors Ksh500,000, senators and MPs Ksh250,000, MCAs Ksh25,000 and special interest groups Ksh15,000.
However, Jubilee simply had more numbers as well as donors to call upon when it needed to raise funds. For instance, Jubilee's 205 MPs each pay a monthly subscription of Ksh10,000 totalling at Ksh2 million each month, while each of its 25 governors part with Ksh20, 000 per month making up half a million shillings.
Couple this with the reports that each of the ruling party's 582 MCAs contributes Ksh 5,000 and it becomes quite clear why the reports claimed that superior bank balances may have played a key role in securing a win in the 2017 General elections.
General Francis Ogolla is Dead, Ruto Confirms Breaking News
