Tendo v Tumwebaze (Miscellaneous Application 383 of 2023)

Observed later treatment

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The court granted an application for DNA testing to determine paternity and potential beneficiary status in an estate matter. The court held that paternity should be established by science rather than legal presumption, and that it is in the best interest of the child to have parentage determined at the earliest opportunity. DNA testing was ordered to be conducted by Government Analytical Laboratories, with costs borne by the estate.

Outcome

DNA testing ordered to determine paternity and beneficiary status

Facts

The applicant, a minor represented by her next friend, sought recognition as a beneficiary of the estate of the late Frank Mugasha who died on 12th March 2016. The respondent was the administrator of the estate and had obtained Letters of Administration. The applicant claimed to be the biological child of the deceased. The respondent opposed the application, expressing surprise at the claim and questioning the child's name (Sunitah Tendo) as inconsistent with the deceased's Munyakole Anglican background. The respondent suggested that a DNA test should be conducted to ascertain paternity. The applicant's next friend claimed to have known about the child since 2011 and stated that the child's mother was in another relationship at the time of conception, leading to an agreement to keep the matter private.

Issues

1. Whether the Applicant can be granted Orders that a DNA/Paternity test be conducted to confirm whether she is a beneficiary of the estate of the Late Frank Mugasha.

Orders

• A Deoxyribonucleic (DNA) samples be collected from Tendo Sunitah.
• The DNA test shall be conducted by the Government Analytical Laboratories, Wandegeya.
• A paternity test to be done comparing the DNA Samples of the Applicant as guided by the Government Analytical Laboratories on all alternative sample collections.
• The samples for Sunitah Tendo should be collected not later than 27th June, 2023.
• The DNA test results shall be submitted to Court by the Applicant not later than 31st July, 2023.
• The costs of the DNA test shall be borne by the Estate of Frank Mugasha.
• The process of the DNA test shall be monitored by both parties and their respective counsel so as to avoid any would be false DNA test results.
• Each party shall bear its own costs of this application.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (2)

• Civil Procedure Act Cap. 71 s.98
• Civil Procedure Rules SI. 71-1 Order 52 Rules 1 and 3

Cases cited (2)

• Re A (A Minor) (Paternity: Refusal of Blood Test) [1994] 2 FLR 463
• Re H and A (Children) [2002] EWCA Civ 383

Cases citing this judgment (2)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

• Tendo (Through Next Friend - Kiconco) v Tumwebaze Mugasha (Miscellaneous Application 957 of 2023)
• Tendo v Tumwebaze (Miscellaneous Application 957 of 2023)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.