Kenyan gospel singer Bahati has opened up about spending 27 million KSH during his campaigns during the August 2022 elections.

Speaking on the Chipukeezy show, Bahati recalled spending an estimated 27 million from his savings while he was campaigning for the Mathare parliamentary seat.

“I campaigned with my own money, which was roughly $27 million.”

After the elections in 2022, Bahati stated that most of his campaign money came from well-wishers, including his fans, friends, and his political party, Jubilee.

Stepping into politics, Bahati never doubted that he would be as successful as he had been in his music career. However, his luck in politics almost ran out after Azimio, led by Edwin Sifuna, urged him to drop his parliamentary bid in favor of ODM aspirant Anthony Oluoch in exchange for offering him a job 10 days into the elections.

In the interview, he revealed that the only one who believed in him was the current president, William Ruto. Being an independent candidate, Bahati says that one of his biggest mistakes was running away from the UDA party since he was a great supporter of Ruto and would have gotten into parliament. He also went on and said that if it were not for Azimio’s interference with his elections, he would not have failed.

“They asked me to step down in exchange for offering me a job.” I don’t want to be tribal, but Azimio never believed in young people; straight-forward, they never did. William Ruto believed in me before anyone else. He was the first one. Kujua, this guy is vying, and he supported me. Shetani ni mbaya. Bahati lamented.