ATOMIC ENERGY COUNCIL IN COMA! Report Exposes Limping Nuclear Energy & Radiation Agency as Projects Stall & Key Activities Collapse
Uganda’s Atomic Energy Council, the government body mandated to regulate the peaceful use of ionising radiation in sectors such as medicine, agriculture, industry, research, education and security, is facing mounting scrutiny after the Auditor General exposed crippling financial shortfalls, stalled projects and poor implementation performance that have left the institution limping instead of operating as a fully functional national regulator.
The disturbing findings are contained in the December 2025 Auditor General’s report on the Atomic Energy Council under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, painting a picture of an institution struggling to stay afloat amid funding gaps, incomplete infrastructure and weak implementation of planned activities.
The crisis comes at a politically sensitive moment for the Council, with acting Chief Executive Officer and Secretary to Council Natharius Nimbashabira reportedly fighting to fully secure the top job after taking over from long-serving former CEO Noah Deogratias Luwalira.
The Council’s governing board is chaired by Prof. Akisophel Kisolo.
Although the Auditor General issued the Council with an unqualified audit opinion, the detailed findings inside the report reveal an institution that appears financially suffocated and operationally constrained, with several critical activities either delayed, partially implemented or not implemented at all.
According to the audit, the Atomic Energy Council had an ambitious strategic plan for the period 2020/21 to 2024/25 valued at a staggering UGX458.96 billion.
However, shockingly, only UGX76.23 billion was actually realized during the implementation period, leaving a massive shortfall of UGX381.73 billion.
The huge financing gap severely affected implementation of major activities, including completion of the Mpoma administration block and radiation laboratories at the AEC Interim Radioactive Sources Management Facility in Mpoma.
The stalled Mpoma facility now raises serious concerns about Uganda’s preparedness and capacity to safely manage radioactive materials and regulate radiation-related activities across the country.
The Auditor General further established that during the financial year 2024/25, the Council had an approved budget of UGX80.58 billion.
But out of this amount, only UGX20.64 billion was actually realized.
This represented a shocking budget performance of just 26 percent, leaving a shortfall of UGX59.94 billion.
The funding crisis affected several critical operations and procurements at the Council.
Among the affected activities was procurement of a contractor for the Mpoma perimeter wall, acquisition of vehicles and establishment of a non-ionizing radiation laboratory.
The report now raises questions about whether the Council can effectively execute its national mandate amid such devastating financial constraints.
Critics say the institution appears to be limping from one financial year to another while key projects remain incomplete and critical regulatory infrastructure remains unfinished.
The findings are likely to intensify debate over whether the problems at the Atomic Energy Council are purely financial or whether management failures have also contributed to the institution’s deteriorating state.
Questions are now being asked about whether leadership wrangles and uncertainty at the top could be affecting implementation of activities and long-term planning within the Council.
The audit also examined utilization of the limited funds that were released to the Council.
Out of the UGX20.64 billion released during the financial year, only UGX18.18 billion was utilized.
This represented an absorption level of 88 percent.
However, despite the relatively high absorption rate, actual implementation performance remained alarmingly poor.
The Auditor General reviewed 27 activities for which funds had been availed and discovered that only five activities were fully implemented.
Eight activities were substantially achieved while thirteen activities were only partially implemented.
One activity was not implemented at all.
The findings paint a troubling picture of an institution struggling to translate allocated resources into meaningful implementation outcomes.
For an agency tasked with overseeing radioactive safety and regulating ionising radiation across critical sectors including health, agriculture, research and security, the weaknesses identified in the audit are likely to trigger concern among stakeholders about the Council’s operational effectiveness.
The Mpoma administration block and radiation laboratories were expected to become critical national infrastructure for radioactive source management, yet the projects continue to suffer from funding shortages and delayed completion.
The delayed establishment of the non-ionizing radiation laboratory also means Uganda’s capacity to regulate and monitor emerging radiation technologies remains constrained.
The Auditor General’s findings now place pressure on both the leadership of the Atomic Energy Council and officials within the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to explain how such a strategically important institution ended up operating under severe financial distress while several key activities remain either incomplete or only partially implemented.
Observers say the audit exposes deeper institutional weaknesses that go beyond funding shortfalls alone.
With only five out of twenty-seven funded activities fully implemented, critics argue that questions must also be asked about planning, prioritization, execution and management effectiveness within the Council.
The report comes at a time when Uganda is increasingly positioning itself for nuclear energy development and expansion of radiation technologies in medicine, agriculture and industrial sectors.
Yet the latest findings suggest the very institution responsible for regulation and oversight is itself struggling to achieve stability.
The revelations have now sparked fresh concerns about whether the Atomic Energy Council is truly prepared to handle the growing demands of radiation regulation in Uganda or whether the institution is slowly sinking under the weight of financial strain, stalled projects and implementation failures.
For many observers, the big question now is whether the Atomic Energy Council is merely underfunded or whether deeper management and leadership problems are quietly pushing the institution into operational paralysis.
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