Kisumu Court Allows Father to Remove Name from Child’s Birth Certificate

In Kisumu, a court has granted a father permission to remove his name from his ‘9-year-old son’s’ birth certificate following DNA tests that proved he was not the biological father.

The case gained attention after it was covered by NTV, highlighting the father’s decision to seek legal action based on his suspicions, which were later confirmed by the DNA tests.

The judge instructed the Births and Deaths Registration Office in Kisumu to revise the child’s birth certificate, expunging the father’s name.

“It is evident that the information recorded on the birth certificate dated April 27, 2023, identifying F.O.A. as the father of the child, J.M.O., is false and misleading,” stated the judge.

“The application dated November 16, 2023, is granted to the extent that F.O.A.’s name shall be removed from Birth Certificate Number xxx as the father of the child J.M.O.,” the judge added.

F.O.A. acknowledged that he had allowed his name to be used for registering the child under Section 12 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. However, he contested that he had adopted the child, asserting that a private DNA test revealed otherwise. Subsequently, a court-ordered test conducted by a government chemist in Kisumu corroborated that he was not the child’s biological father.

The man explained that he had been in a romantic relationship with the child’s mother in 2014, during which she became pregnant. Initially believing he was the father, he supported the mother until doubts arose about the child’s paternity, leading him to seek legal resolution.