The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS are grappling to prevent mischief related to how DNA samples to establish a person’s paternity are collected following a landmark citizenship ruling in May.

Health Minister Dr Michael Darville said officials are working to ensure samples are always taken from the right person, not someone providing material in their stead to skew results.

His comments to The Tribune come as some complain the Davis administration is taking too long to finalise the genetic testing protocol, leaving people entitled to citizenship in limbo.

“If a mother has three children,” he said yesterday, “two may be biologically mine, and the last one may not be mine. The mother wants citizenship for the child, and she has that right once the child can be confirmed as mine, so rather than the blood sample being taken from the one that is in question, the blood sample may be taken from the one that is mine, and so the DNA report that will come, because it matches my DNA to the child’s DNA, it will say with 99 per cent certainty that it’s mine. The question is, do we have the right sample?”

The Privy Council in May affirmed that children born out of wedlock to Bahamian men are Bahamians at birth regardless of the mother’s nationality.

The Passport Office began accepting applications from many affected people on June 26, approving some 300 since then.

However, those without their father on their birth certificate are waiting for the government to finalise genetic testing rules so they can apply for their document. Calls from such people have reportedly bombarded the Passport Office.

 Dr Darville said he initially thought the police lab could collect samples but realised the Royal Bahamas Police Force does not have the capacity.

He said letting the National Reference Laboratory collect all samples is one option.

He said the emerging system will not allow every certified lab to collect and test samples as if they were performing COVID-19 tests.

“If I open it up, generally speaking,” he said, “how do we know that the blood sample is from the right person, and how do we control that if we allow it to be done with every lab that can do it? Security is important. I need to make sure the person who is sitting in the chair who we are taking this sample from is the right person.

“We must ensure that the sample was taken from the right person with the right ID and the right profile in the presence of this person or that person where a sign-off is done and it is not held in the responsibility of one person.”

 Dr Darville said he has requested guidance from the Pan-American Health Organisation to finalize the framework.