Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Davis administration has finalised its genetic testing protocols for people affected by last year’s landmark Privy Council ruling and will soon release more details about the procedures, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said on Friday.
Some people affected by the ruling have been anxiously waiting for the government to say what they must do to get their Bahamian passport.
Dr Darville had previously told reporters the protocols would be released before the end of 2023, but that never happened.
He said on Friday that finalising the protocols took longer than expected because officials had been grappling with how to prevent DNA fraud.
“There’s no system in the world that’s soundproof, but we believe we have something that is very academic,” he said. “It’s very safe, and we believe that it can substantiate the court order.”
Last May, the Privy Council affirmed that people born out of wedlock to Bahamian men are Bahamians at birth regardless of their mother’s nationality.
However, while many of these people have since obtained passports, those whose father is not identified on their birth certificates remain in limbo.
Dr Darville said people who fall in the latter category will first have to present samples to a lab registered under the Ministry of Health.
He said their samples would be forwarded “to one of the reputable labs in the United States, and the results would come back which will confirm within 99.5 per cent the paternity testing for that particular case.”
“It’s a very structured programme,” he added. “From my understanding, there will be a notary public. The lab would have to be registered, full documentation and the information will be passed on to the Passport Office for determination of paternity.”
Regarding those with dead fathers, Dr Darville said DNA samples can be taken from a close paternal relative.
“It can be a sibling, an uncle or a relative who can substantiate genetic connectivity,” he said. “It can be done many ways, not just with the father who’s passed on. It can be done with his brother, his sister. It can be done with an uncle, and the list goes on and on, but there’s ways DNA can be confirmed outside of the father giving the sample.”
Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has said that addressing citizenship inequalities is a priority for his administration this year.
However, he gave no timeline on when legislation concerning this will be brought to Parliament.
People born outside The Bahamas to a Bahamian mother and foreign father are not automatically citizens, and Bahamian women do not have the same rights as men to get citizenship for their foreign spouse.
Comments
ExposedU2C 10 months, 1 week ago
So the mother of a child who did not put the foreign father's name on her child's birth certificate can now have her (the mother's) brother, uncle or male cousin provide a DNA sample in order to cheat the system and assist the child to unjustly (unconstitutionally) acquire Bahamian citizenship. Dumbo Darville must truly think we are all as stupid as he is.
And any legitimate DNA testing to be done, should be done at a highly reputable lab in the U.K. in which no Bahamian has an ownership or other controlling interest.
Bobsyeruncle 10 months, 1 week ago
Not a pro on DNA, but using the DNA of a male family member/relative of the mother would not match the DNA of the child. The child would have a unique DNA combination of the biological mother and father, which would not match if a male relative's DNA was tested.
John 10 months, 1 week ago
In other words a matching DNA can only come from the father’s family line and not the mothers.
hrysippus 10 months, 1 week ago
Sexpos to sea: OK , yes but why is this a problem to you? The country needs productive citizens who do not have a job simply because of political patronage; we have too many like that already; most all as State Employed Workers in the Civil Service,. Do you know why a farmer hires a bull? To service his cows.....
ExposedU2C 10 months, 1 week ago
If you believe our Constitution does not matter, then simply agitate for it to be shredded and the gates widely opened to Haitians, Jamaicans and whomever else wants to crowd Bahamians out of their own country.
killemwitdakno 10 months ago
The term is paternal.
sheeprunner12 10 months, 1 week ago
Will all of the politicians who have "outside children" finally confess, repent and own these hush-hush kids??
Whether they were for Bahamian or non- Bahamian women
John 10 months, 1 week ago
What does confession have to do with anything. They only need to sign the birth certificate or offer a DNA sample and allow the children to get their passports and their rights as a citizen in this country.
killemwitdakno 10 months ago
That's the problem. Their ought to be ownership otherwise it's just encouraging breeding at-risk youth.
John 10 months, 1 week ago
The question if fraud may not be as much an issue with persons living in the country as those living abroad and applying for citizenship. What may happen now is more people will pay Bahamians to have children for them. That way the parents get to stay in the country as well. And this may sound crude, but do you know those children who have to wait until they turn 18 to apply for citizenship tend to make better and more disciplined citizens. Is it because they have something to look forward or maybe the parents ( most if the time single mothers) drill in them that they have ti be law abiding people if they want to get citizenship. So they attend schools get good grades and stay out of trouble. And even when they are granted citizenship, they still tend to be law abiding and productive citizens.
TalRussell 10 months, 1 week ago
Whilst DNA ethnicity test is a powerful tool for citizenship applications. --- With an accuracy rate of over 99 percent for each marker tested. --- Goin' creates a new worry for a number of get-rich applicants', from seeking reparations, payable in Englishman's; Pound, banknotes, -- For slavery. --- You couldn't make it up, now, could you. --- Yes?
killemwitdakno 10 months ago
THERE HAS BEEN NO STUDY DONE TO REPORT ANY LEVEL OF PAID SPERM DONATIONS OR FATHERING ABSENTEEISM TO NON-BAHAMIAN CHILDREN. THIS CAN MERELY SUPPORT A TREND OF SEXING FOR CITIZENSHIP. ELIMINATING SUCH AVENUE PROTECTS THE FAMILY STRUCTURE.
Reduce bastards reliant upon the state by requiring the claiming of these offspring through APPLICATION FOR PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES. "If you’re a father who wants parental responsibility and the mother agrees, fill in a parental responsibility agreement." https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-resp…
Privy Council has merely applied their monarchist bloodline entitlements view. The same ones whose royal spares' children aren't automatically granted Prince and Princess titles for the sake of maintaining a trimmed-down monarchy in senior roles. Only the heir inherits. I would like to hear Nigel Farrage's own take on them forcing rubbish.
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