By Stephen Akabway Jr
During his life time, seventeen children were attributed to the former commissioner in the ministry of education and sports, the late George Opio (also owner of one of the best private schools in Bweyogerere-Kira) and yet in death, seven of them have been discovered to have been falsely attributed to him. The deceased died while he was seeking to the establish the truth about his true biological children.
The fact-finding mission would take him to South Africa where he commissioned a DNA test as he endeavoured to establish the paternity or dubiety of each one of the children who were being attributed to him.
Unfortunately, the late George Opio succumbed to COVID-19 on June 12, 2021 before the final results of the DNA test could be submitted to him from South Africa so did the medical doctor in Uganda who had collected the DNA samples.
Following Opio’s demise, his elderly mother, Majeri Acham took over from him the truth-finding mission. Acham lodged an application before the Family Division of the High Court through the law firm of Ambrose Tebyasa and Company Advocates, securing an order, compelling each one of the children who was being attributed to her late son to be subjected to a DNA test.
One of the deceased’s widows (BMK) who had previously reportedly refused to surrender her children for a DNA test, put a condition of exhumation of her late husband’s remains for the purposes of collecting the deceased’s required DNA samples directly from those remains and much as the deceased had prior to his demise left behind his samples.
The presiding judge allowed BMK’s request and her late husband’s remains were on December 23, 2024 exhumed from his resting place in Bukedea-Teso region and DNA samples collected-from there and the remains were reburied again.
The DNA samples of the deceased and those collected from the seventeen children were submitted to both the government analytical laboratories based in Wandegeya and Makerere University Biomedical School whom the judge had directed to conduct analysis of the same.
A leaked DNA final report dated April reveals that a total of seven children, including a set of children were excluded from the deceased’s paternity, leaving a total of ten children as the only ones who were the deceased’s biological children.
Much as the DNA tests were conducted by two different and separate entities, each one of them issued a report that was substantially the same like the other in respect to the material issue at hand.
It is understood that five of the children excluded from the deceased’s paternity, including a set of twins, were mothered by the deceased’s junior widow, BMK.
We have been unable to establish whether the rest of the children who were discovered not to be the children of the deceased all were mothered by the deceased’s senior widow or other women.
The family lawyer, Ambrose Tebyasa declined to give us audience for purposes of being cautious not to divulge more information pertinent to these matters. “I am very sorry sir, I am professionally and legally not permitted to discuss clients’ matters through the media,” Ambrose Tebyasa contended before quickly excusing himself from talking more about these matters when reached for a comment.
The late Opio resorted to DNA tests after one of her widows reportedly abandoned their marital home in Kitikifumba village in Municipality in Wakiso district on January 20, 2021 never to return until after the deceased’s demise on June 12, 2021.
During her absence, the late Opio conducted an initial DNA test on two of her children whom he suspected not to be his biological and that the final report proved right his earlier fears and concerns.
Specifically speaking, the deceased first allegedly conducted surveillance on this particular widow and ultimately traced her to rented premises in Buwate-Najjera in Kira Municipality while oddly staying with someone else.
After discovering two of her children were not his biological children, the late Opio commissioned a second DNA test in South Africa involving all of the seventeen children who were being attributed to him but he died without the conclusion of the analysis of the samples and the submission of the final results to him.
Relatedly, it is understood that the widow, following her late husband’s demise, attempted to obtain legal powers over the deceased’s estate by first of all purportedly unsuccessfully obtaining his death certificate from Mulago hospital
Upon finding out from Mulago hospital authorities that her late husband had left behind next of kins who were legally authorized to collect his death certificate, the widow purportedly proceeded and obtained the same documents from National Identification and Registration Authority.
But her attempt to obtain a certificate of no objection from the administrator general’s office were blocked by her in-laws, nipping in the bud her scheme of obtaining letters of administration from the High Court which would have effectively and legally bestowed upon her powers over her late husband’s estate. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
