By Rashad Rolle

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands anticipates “significant upheaval” in The Bahamas if DNA tests are required to establish paternity among people wanting recognition as citizens following the Privy Council’s landmark ruling last week.

“The determination of paternity by affidavit or by marriage is not going to be adequate and I see significant upheaval in the determination of who is the father of a child once you introduce genetic testing,” said Dr Sands, the chairman of the Free National Movement.

“You know how the song say, ‘your daddy ain’t your daddy, but your daddy don’t know’?” We have this view that you are the father of the child if you are married to the mother of the child when the child is born. And you know, and I know, that there are a number of instances where you ain’t the father.”

The Privy Council reversed years of constitutional interpretation when it affirmed Chief Justice Ian Winder’s ruling that children born out of wedlock to Bahamian men are automatically citizens regardless of their mother’s nationality and do not have to wait until 18 to apply for citizenship.  

While the ruling brings many closer to Bahamian citizenship, the Privy Council acknowledged their recognition hinges on proof of paternity.

The Status of Children Act establishes how men can prove paternity, such as by being married to the child’s mother at birth or signing an affidavit acknowledging one’s fatherhood. However, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, who brought the case that led to last week’s ruling, said the Status of Children Act specifies that it could not be used to establish citizenship.

“I think we all know instances where affidavits have flaws,” Dr Sands said yesterday. “Just because somebody has an affidavit that says they are a father of a particular individual doesn’t make it so. And it may be that they don’t know. They may assume that they are, but they’re not. So, certainly, with the extremely unusual instances of false results with paternity testing by genetics, I think the genetic determination is going to be the standard that’s gonna have to be used. It is not expensive, it’s not onerous, it’s not difficult and it will in most instances, particularly if you have the person who claims to be the father and the person who claims to be the child if you have their DNA, then it can be used.”

Dr Sands said DNA tests cost less than $100, and the results are available within a few days.

“Once the market is there, I think just like people were able to ramp up with COVID tests, they’d be able to ramp up with DNA tests,” he said about the country’s capacity to facilitate an increased number of tests.

However, some officials acknowledge that genetic tests may be impractical sometimes, such as when the father has died or refuses to be tested.

 One government official, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to discuss the matter, said yesterday: “If your citizenship depends on showing that your grandfather was a Bahamian by birth and he is dead, and his father before him is dead, how are you going to do that by DNA? If you’re around today and your supposed father refuses to take a DNA test because he doesn’t want to pay your mother maintenance fees, the court can’t insist that he do so. But if you say you have to prove it by DNA, that will exclude all the children whose fathers are rogues and deadbeats, so it’s more challenging than it first appears.”

 Under the Status of Children Act, a man is presumed to be the father of a child if he satisfies one of many conditions. These include:

 a) was married to the mother of the child at the time of its birth;

 b) was married to the mother of the child and the marriage was terminated by death or judgement of nullity within 280 days before the child’s birth or by divorce where the decree was granted within 280 days before the child’s birth;

 c) was married to the child’s mother after the child was born and acknowledges that he is the natural father;

 d) was cohabiting with the mother of the child in a relationship of some permanence at the time of the birth of the child, where the child is born within 280 days after they ceased to cohabit;

 e) is recognised to be the father of the child by a court;

 f) signs an affidavit confirming he is the father of the child;

 g) has acknowledged himself as father when registering the child;

 h) has given written consent to that child adopting his name in accordance with the law relating to the change of name; or

 (j) has by his conduct implicitly and consistently acknowledged that he is the father of the child.