Kenyans gain a case to prove that British soldiers are their fathers

Seven people from Kenya won a case in the London family court to prove that they were engendered by British men working in an army base in their country.

Trade DNA databases have been used to identify otherly unknown fathers. Six had served in the British army training unit in Kenya (Batuk) and one worked as an entrepreneur.

This is the first time that paternity has been proven in this way in a British court.

The decision opens the door to offspring to ask for British citizenship.

They were represented by British lawyer James Clean, who – with the leading geneticist Denise Syndercombe Court – had participated in a project to collect DNA samples and testimonials from the Nanyuki region in Kenya.

They met many people who thought that their fathers had served Batuk, the largest base in the British Army in Africa.

DNA databases accessible to the public were then used to try to locate family members in the United Kingdom.

One of the applicants, Peter Wambugu, told the BBC that he had grown up knowing that his father was a British soldier, but said they had never met. The 33 -year -old said that he was the victim of intimidation throughout his childhood to be mixed.

Peter said that his mother told her that his father “was a good man”. He added: “She told me that he said he would be back one day, but he never came.”

He has since been brought together with his father, who said he did not know that he had a son. After their first meeting, Peter told the BBC: “So all the pain I have brought all these 30 years, all the discrimination that I receive from people, this pain has come out as joy.”

Another seeker who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said that she had met her father once at the age of four and never again. She said that growing up without him was hard and that she “felt extremely abandoned”.

Reacting to the decision, James Clean said: “For many families, today’s hearing marks the end of an incredibly difficult trip which, for so long, was impossible. Children and young people who had only questions, now have answers.”

He said there were many more people near Batuk in a similar situation, and that the next step was to tackle more difficult cases – those who had little or no information on their fathers or family members.

Andrew MacLeod – A lawyer and activist involved in the DNA project – said that he hoped that today’s case would encourage the Ministry of Defense to assume more responsibilities for paternity complaints filed against the Batuk soldiers.

The Ministry of Defense told the BBC that “although complaints of paternity against British service staff are a question of privacy, the government cooperates with local children’s alimony authorities where there are complaints concerning paternity”.

The BBC has followed this story in the past year as part of a next podcast world of secrets in five games.