Kampala Uganda (Commonwealth Union)_It all began when a business tycoon who had a host of wives and mistresses demanded a paternity test to prove he was the biological father of only fifteen of his 25 children. This sparked a major controversy in Uganda with a host of males lining up for paternity tests, in a country which believes that a child born in the man’s house, is his child. The trend of increasing paternity tests could have dire consequences on families, causing break ups and leaving children psychologically scarred.
While the business tycoon’s story has not been verified, the tale in itself spread like wildfire causing males around the country to seek paternity tests. With the situation getting out of control, lawmakers are making emotional appeals to men, requesting them to stop putting their families and their children through trauma.
Lawmaker Sarah Opendi appealed to the men to live like their forefathers where if a child is born in the house, “It is your child”. However, she also qualified her statement saying that a man has the right to a paternity test but only when the child is born and not after they are grown up, as this causes emotional trauma and anxiety not only for the family but also for the child. Another worrying feature that has risen since the business tycoon’s story was published is the increase in domestic violence. An Israeli national living in Uganda allegedly killed his wife after DNA results showed he was not the father of their six-month old child.
The government analytical lab is overworked with the request for tests which have increased ten-fold since last month. The lab would handle an average of ten test applications per day prior to the furore, but is now getting as many as one hundred requests per day. Private clinics meanwhile have cashed in, advertising heavily in public spaces.
Given the unprecedented numbers of tests being done, there are concerns that results may turn out wrong as well, after it was reported that fake testing kits have been smuggled into Uganda. The Ministry of Health has directed that paternity testing will only be done in the three state-run laboratories. In addition, families receive counselling and psychological support when tests are done as it is not the result of the test that plays on a child’s mind but rather that his father doubted he was his son. This is extremely damaging to any child’s psyche.
While public opinion is split on the debate raging across Uganda, the culture in Uganda leans very much towards ancestral mores where wives would sometimes have an extramarital relationship to give her husband a child. “It’s nothing new,” said an activist. “Our ancestors did it, our grandparents did it, our mothers did it.”
Even though most often it is the man who has fertility problems, in African culture if the woman doesn’t provide the man with children, she is shunned, thrown out of the family and divorced. Hence, most often, women would have another man’s child, to give the child the man wants.
The other aspect to this is that males who have extramarital affairs, most often bring those children home and expect their wives to raise those children as their own as well, which is tantamount to double standards by those males seeking paternity tests. Others argue that the scientific paternity tests are way better than the age-old cultural practice of smearing cow fat on the umbilical cord and placing it in a woven basket filled with water. If the cord floats, the child belongs to the family.
The State Minister for Primary Healthcare is completely against paternity tests, stating that if a man doesn’t know it is not his child, it won’t break his heart like it will, when he finds out the child is not his.
