Paternity questions are increasingly straining Ugandan families as more men turn to DNA testing, a once-taboo practice now widely accessible across the country. Clan leaders, religious figures, and community elders are struggling to contain tensions sparked by test results that are breaking households and reshaping long-held cultural norms.
In Nabumali, clan leader and mayor Moses Kutoi is often called to mediate between couples on the brink of separation. Many arrive furious, insisting some of their children do not resemble them. Kutoi, drawing from ancestral teachings that discourage open discussion of paternity doubts, works to calm tempers with humour and personal examples.
“Even me, I don’t resemble my father,” he recently told one distressed man, a reminder that physical difference alone is not proof.
But as DNA testing becomes more common, partly fuelled by high-profile cases involving prominent Ugandans, paternity has grown into a national flashpoint. Traditional leaders now urge restraint, and churches are preaching tolerance. During last year’s Christmas service, Anglican Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba used the biblical example of Joseph to caution Christians against pursuing DNA tests that could disrupt families. “Just take care of the children the way they are,” he said.
Despite those appeals, demand for testing continues to rise sharply. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees a government-accredited forensic laboratory, reports that nearly all voluntary tests are requested by men — and that more than 98 percent of those tests reveal the man is not the biological father. Ministry spokesman Simon Peter Mundeyi described the outcomes as “heartbreaking” and warned men not to seek testing “unless you have a strong heart.”
Private labs in Kampala and other towns have capitalised on the demand, plastering taxis, radio stations and billboards with DNA advertisements. Yet the cost remains out of reach for many rural families; in Mbale, fees exceed Ksh 25,800, leaving people to seek advice from community elders like Kutoi instead.
Paternity disputes now feature prominently in property inheritance cases, divorce proceedings and estate distribution. In one widely reported case, a Kampala academic learned through court-ordered testing that he was not the father of one of his three children, triggering intense national debate.
Religious leaders are also intervening. The Rev. Robert Wantsala, an Anglican vicar in Mbale, has handled numerous cases ranging from inheritance conflicts to disputes between men both claiming paternity of the same child. Pastor Andrew Mutengu of Word of Faith Ministries recently mediated a case involving a businessman, his wife and a former boyfriend who publicly claimed her daughter.
Historically, outright disowning of children was rare. Instead, men who doubted paternity would quietly rearrange inheritance — for example, relocating a disputed son’s land far from the ancestral compound, according to Kutoi.
Even Kutoi himself jokes about his own family. When his tall, light-skinned 29-year-old son walked across the compound one afternoon, he teased visitors: “When you looked at him, did he look like me?” It is his lighthearted way of reminding families that resemblance alone should not tear households apart.
Yet as DNA testing becomes more accessible, Uganda faces a growing challenge: balancing modern scientific tools with cultural traditions built on family unity, discretion, and stability.
By Yockshard Enyendi
