Uganda: National Laboratory machines expired


A number of key machines at the national analytical laboratory at Wandegeya have expired or broken down, a factor which is set to hamstring the country’s capacity to conduct forensic investigations.

Minister of Internal Affairs Gen. Aronda Nyakairima

The Acting Commissioner Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory (DGAL), Eric Atalao Dradrio, revealed that many of these machines have broken down due to failure to service them, while some have simply become obsolete.

“Sometime we don’t have money to periodically service these machines,” Atalao  told MPs on the Defense and Internal Affairs committee of parliament, tacitly admitting the country’s perennial reliance on laboratories in foreign countries for forensics that require a high degree of expertise.

Among machines that are “limping” include: the genetic analyzer (DNA machine) and gas chromatography/ mass spectrophotometer which are expected to expire next year.  These two machines are used to detect poisons.

The High performance liquid chromatography is about to break down, while the atomic absorption spectrophotometer has already broken down.
The latter machine is used to measure amount of heavy metal in the atmosphere, soil and water.

Dradrio said manufacturers of these machines cease to produce their spare parts after a decade, as technology evolves, bringing new equipment on the market.


According to Dradrio, it will cost sh2.2b to replace the aforementioned machines with new ones.

The Minister of Internal Affairs Gen. Aronda Nyakairima has called for the elevation of DGAL into a semi-autonomous entity “given its national strategic importance.”

“We should not be hoping with samples from India, South Africa to UK,” Aronda said in his appeal to MPs consider his proposal that he hopes will see DGAL better facilitated.

Despite having a national analytical laboratory to help with forensic investigations, Uganda has continued to rely on foreign facilities, with the Government early this year sending body samples of fallen MP, Cerinah Nebanda, to South Africa, India and Israel to ascertain cause of her death.

By Moses Walubiri, The New Vision

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.