A 90-year-old man, code-named KMW, has moved to court to demand for three adult males who he says have been using his name unlawfully, compelled to take a DNA test.

According to the old man, the three men are not his sons and maintained that the records at the Registrar General naming him as the father of the three are “inaccurate, illegal, and fictitious”.

He first filed the case at the  High Court in Nairobi on October 5, 2018, but it was only until last week that High Court Judge Maureen Odero allowed the application by KMW seeking to have the three undergo a DNA test to determine their paternity.

According to court records, the paternity dispute started as early as 1988 when the old man brought the matter to their local chief in Gatamaiyu. The chief reportedly asked the three gentlemen to return to their mothers’ home in Kandara Division, Muranga County.

The three men argue that although they cannot be certain if the old man is their biological father, he was married to their late mother. They further said through their lawyer that when their mother died, the old man’s mother took them in and raised them, saying she is the one who gave them the old man’s name.

They said they are happy to undergo the DNA test.

“It is clear that the issue of paternity is central to this matter. Though the defendants claim that the plaintiff married their mother, they have not adduced any evidence of the existence of a statutory or customary marriage between the Plaintiff and their mother,” the court ruled.

The court noted that the old man’s mother took in the three after their mother died and she raised them to maturity. In the judge’s view, the act amounts to a “sufficient basis” to warrant a DNA test.

“It is desirable that this question of paternity be settled conclusively. Therefore, I direct that the Plaintiff and the Defendants submit themselves for a DNA test. The cost of the DNA test to be met by the plaintiff” ruled the court.