An Open Letter To The Speaker Of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, And The Members Of The 8th Parliament Of The Fourth Republic Of Ghana

FROM: Citizens for Bio-Cultural Integrity and Family Preservation
June 29, 2026

SUBJECT: Urgent Call to Amend and Update Family Legislation: Restoring Customary Pre-Marital Vetting Protocols Through a National Mandatory At-Birth DNA Testing Policy to Eradicate Dzidehlome (Paternity Fraud)

Right Honourable Speaker, Honorable Members of Parliament,

We write to you with a deep sense of urgency regarding the existential crisis threatening the foundational pillar of Ghanaian society: the family unit.

Recent debates within this August House surrounding the Paternity Fraud (Criminalisation) Bill introduced by Gomoa Central MP Hon. Kwame Asare Obeng (A Plus), alongside proposals from Ahafo Ano South East MP Hon. Yakubu Mohammed, demonstrate that Parliament recognizes the severe emotional, economic, and cultural damage caused by misattributed parentage. However, the current legislative trajectory possesses a fundamental flaw: it is purely punitive rather than preemptive. Criminalizing a mother after the deception is uncovered does not heal broken families, nor does it prevent the catastrophic systemic infiltration of lineages—a phenomenon the Anlo Ewe people historically guarded against and termed dzidehlome.

To fix these legislative gaps, we urgently request that Parliament review the current proposals and update Ghana’s legal framework to establish universal, mandatory DNA paternity testing at birth as a non-negotiable prerequisite for issuing a birth certificate.

We present the following arguments, rooted in data, cultural survival, and international legal trends, for your immediate consideration:

1. Codifying the Sacred Anlo Custom of Ancestral Vetting

In the days of old, long before westernized court systems and marriage registries existed, our ancestors maintained bulletproof systems to protect the biological and moral purity of their bloodlines. In the Anlo Ewe traditional area, marriage was never treated as a hasty agreement between two infatuated individuals; it was a sacred treaty between two ancestral trees.

Before any marriage ceremony (volanu) could proceed, both families deployed hidden, specialized networks to launch an exhaustive, multi-generational investigation into the other family's background. This rigorous customary screening looked out for:

• Criminal and Moral Stains: Checking for histories of theft, murder, betrayal, or habitual deceit.
• Genetic and Spiritual Health: Investigating the prevalence of incurable illnesses, madness, or spiritual curses (fika).
• Lineage Continuity: Ensuring that the potential bride or groom came from a pure, verifiable womb where the bloodline had never been compromised.

If a family was found to have hidden criminal elements or compromised morals, the marriage negotiations were instantly aborted to prevent the curse of dzidehlome—the malicious grafting of an alien, corrupt branch into an honorable ancestral tree. Today, modern dating and online interactions have completely destroyed this vital screening layer. Because families no longer investigate lineages, dishonest actors can easily hide their background. Making DNA testing mandatory at birth acts as a modern, scientific revival of this precise custom, ensuring that state-backed birth certificates protect families from deception just as our ancestors did.

2. The Statistical Reality Exposes a State of Emergency

We cannot create laws based on sentimentality while ignoring scientific data. Private laboratory data, including the Blueprint DNA Ghana Insights Report, indicates that up to 42.3% of contested paternity tests in the country result in exclusion. Nearly one out of every two men who suspect fraud are proven right. This goes hand in hand with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Population and Housing Census data, which reveals that over 553,065 Ghanaians are currently divorced, and another 405,090 are permanently separated. Biological deception is a primary driver behind these collapsing households.

3. The Socio-Economic Transformation of a Truth-Based Society

Implementing a universal, mandatory at-birth DNA testing policy is not merely a legal or moral victory; it delivers profound socio-economic dividends that will fundamentally stabilize the Ghanaian state.

On an economic front, this policy will drastically reduce the immense financial burden currently placed on the judicial system, state medical boards, and social services. A substantial portion of the cases draining the resources of Legal Aid Ghana, the Department of Social Welfare, and the Family Courts involve grueling, multi-year child maintenance disputes, contested inheritances, and divorce battles rooted in hidden paternity doubts. Legal Aid records reveal that up to 40% of registered urban marriages collapse within just 14 months of the wedding, triggering costly legal battles. By establishing absolute biological certainty at birth, the state instantly eliminates the legal friction of contested parentage, freeing up millions of Ghana Cedis in judicial resources and preventing men from spending decades investing their hard-earned life savings, property, and pensions into lineages that are not theirs.

Socially, this framework will dramatically curb the rising rates of domestic conflict and gender-based violence, much of which is silently driven by deep-seated suspicions of infidelity and biological deception within the home. When paternity is normalized and verified at birth as a standard public health procedure, the toxic element of suspicion is permanently removed from the marital dynamic.

Furthermore, this law provides ultimate psychological protection for the innocent child. Every year, thousands of Ghanaian children suffer severe identity crises, abandonment, and sudden withdrawal of emotional and financial support when a father discovers deception late in the child's life. Mandating scientific truth at the point of birth secures the child's constitutional right to an accurate identity, prevents the trauma of late-stage family breakups, and creates a more stable, honest, and high-trust society where corporate, familial, and community investments can be made with absolute security.

4. The Flaw of Current Laws: The Need for Preemptive Administration

The Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) and the Evidence Act, 1975 (NRCD 323) rely on a "rebuttable presumption of paternity" within marriage, leaving DNA testing as a reactive tool triggered only during hostile court disputes or maintenance battles. This structural loophole encourages deception.

A telling example from Ghanaian public discourse involves a pastor who announced that a medical team would conduct free, mandatory DNA testing for all children in his congregation the following Sunday. By Monday morning, the pews were empty as dozens of families quietly exited to avoid exposure. If the mere threat of scientific truth causes families to flee, it proves that a culture of evasion has overtaken moral accountability. Universal testing at birth removes the element of suspicion, normalizes biological clarity, and protects innocent men from decades of emotional and financial exploitation.

5. Siting International Examples and the Global Frontier

While critics argue that universal mandatory testing at birth is unprecedented, the global legal landscape is rapidly shifting due to the rising socio-economic costs of paternity disputes:

• The Southern African Debate (Namibia): The Parliament of Namibia has actively debated legislative frameworks to mandate DNA testing for newborns, driven by a national push to curb gender-based violence arising from paternity disputes and to protect child maintenance structures.
• The French Model: In France, unauthorized private DNA testing is strictly banned to protect state welfare structures from collapsing under the weight of mass family dissolutions. However, Ghana must not copy Western damage-control mechanisms. We must forge a proactive path that aligns with our unique cultural heritage.
• Universal Genetic Screening Standards: Developed nations like the United States universally mandate genetic heel-prick blood screenings at birth to test for medical anomalies. Ghana can adapt this existing healthcare infrastructure to log biological profiles alongside birth registrations, securing a baseline of absolute truth from day one.

Recommendations for Immediate Parliamentary Action:

1. Consolidate Existing Private Members' Bills: Merge the Paternity Fraud Bill with an updated Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act.
2. Establish the Universal At-Birth Testing Mandate: Require all public and private healthcare facilities to perform a DNA profile prior to a newborn's discharge, funded via a subsidised national health insurance framework.
3. Ensure Strict Data Security: Guard genetic registries under the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) to address privacy concerns.

Rt. Hon. Speaker, you have frequently emphasized that the laws passed by this House must be robust enough to withstand constitutional scrutiny and protect the core values of the Ghanaian people. There is no greater value than truth. We urge you to steer the House toward a law that prevents deception, guarantees child identity, secures fathers' rights, and shields future generations from the damage of dzidehlome.

Yours faithfully,
Advocate for Customary Truth and Marital Stability

✍️ Retired Senior Citizen
For and on behalf of the Senior Citizens of the Republic of Ghana 🇬🇭
Teshie-Nungua [email protected]