Kampala — THE Government spent sh276b to prepare for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), President Yoweri Museveni has revealed.

Museveni, in his first public statement since the meeting of the former British colonies ended on November 25, said the funds were used to repair roads in Entebbe, Nakasero and Kololo and support private hotels through co-investment. "We spent sh276b on CHOGM activities in the financial years 2006/07 and 2007/08."

The money also went on upgrading the security infrastructure such as radar units, X-ray machines at the airport and in major hotels.

Museveni said Uganda had benefited from CHOGM through the new infrastructure. He added that the country attracted potential investors from the UK, India and Malaysia.

"This was the most successful and well organised CHOGM ever held. Since I have attended many CHOGMs, I can also confirm this," Museveni said.

"Quite a bit of money came into the country. The hotels such as Sheraton and Speke Resort Munyonyo were full. I even heard that Nakasero Market was busy with many customers.

"Most important of all, was informing outsiders about Uganda. Many of the leaders did not know how much Uganda had recovered. Many told me so," said Museveni.

Uganda hosted the bi-annual meeting, which was opened by the Queen Elizabeth II. It was attended by 48 heads of state.

"It was not difficult for the NRM Government to host such an event given our proven capacity to organise events. There are, however, groups linked to negative forces in Uganda that try to eclipse the time-tested capacity of the NRM to handle big issues," Museveni commented.

The President said the idea of Uganda hosting CHOGM was from the outgoing Commonwealth secretary general, Don MacKinnon, who attended the Smart Partnership meeting at Munyonyo in 2001 and was impressed by the venue's setting.

"I had never thought of hosting CHOGM until Don MacKinnon brought it up. I said 'why not? We would.' Nigeria, however applied for hosting CHOGM in 2003. In Abuja, we agreed that Malta would host CHOGM 2005 and Uganda would host CHOGM 2007," he said.

He accused opposition groups of misleading the Western world that Uganda would not be a suitable venue for the meeting.