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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66247854

The issue has been a hot topic of debate in the country since a tabloid newspaper published a story claiming that a well-known business tycoon - who had several wives and mistresses - had a row with one of his spouses, prompting him to request paternity tests that reportedly said he was the biological father of only 15 of his 25 children.

The tycoon and his family have never commented publicly, and the report has not been independently verified.

But the story spread like wildfire and has caused huge controversy over the last few months, prompting some lawmakers to make an emotional appeal to men to stop putting their families and children through the trauma of tests.

“Let’s live like our forefathers lived. The child born in the house is your child,” Minister of Mineral Development Sarah Opendi said in parliament. Although she qualified her statement by adding that if a man wanted a paternity test it should be done when a child is born - not when they are grown up.

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Discussion

This is interesting. I guess it shows how distant fathers are from children (and the children’s mothers) in polygamous situations. I haven’t met any men in nuclear families who believe they might not be the fathers of their wives’ children, though I’m sure a few exist. It would be a particularly bad situation, though, not one of, “Oh, let’s just check, just in case, because i read an article about a man who was fooled.”