The police spokesperson, SCP Fred Enanga, while speaking at the weekly press brief today, July 3, 2023, warned against people purchasing DNA testing kits and carrying out testing at home. This reckless behaviour puts children at risk as it invades their privacy.
“We have information that some parents are buying DNA kits and carrying out testing at home; this is wrong, and we ask the parents to stop this as DNA testing has its procedures and needs to be carried out by professionally trained personnel,” said Enanga.
Enanga further said DNA testing has increased, especially among fathers who request it, due to a number of reasons, including inheritance, if there are any inherited diseases, raising children that are not biologically theirs, and paternity reasons in the case of mothers for financial support.
“It’s mainly men who were involved in past relationships, long-distance relationships, and mothers who are not sure of their baby dads; results that are positive tighten the relationship, whereas those that are negative cause stress and distress for the children,” said Enanga.
He encouraged parents to follow DNA testing standards because home testing is unreliable and may yield inaccurate findings.
Uganda’s Ministry of Internal Affairs last week said the average number of men that sought paternity test three years ago was three per month but it has significantly risen to a hundred for the same duration.
“Last week alone, we had around 40 people, who were looking for services of DNA at the ministry because they know that we do control the Government Analytic Laboratory,” said the ministry spokesperson Simon Mundenyi Mundenyi.