Nine-year-old Kenyan boy “Edward” has always known his father worked for the British military. The boy, who has lighter skin than his peers, had been bullied for years. His father disappeared before Edward [not his real name] After his birth, his mother lived in extreme poverty and was ostracized by some members of her family.
Now the man who worked as a contractor at a British Army base in Kenya and 19 other soldiers who served there have been identified as the father of a child born near the base through ground-breaking DNA and legal procedures.
An investigation by BBC World Service shows that judges of the UK’s highest family court have so far legally confirmed paternity in 12 of the cases.
This process provides answers to children who do not know who their father is, or who are led to believe they are dead. All are searching for answers about their legacies and facing financial hardship. Most of the 12 confirmed cases are now eligible to register for British citizenship. People who are under 18 or in further education will be eligible for child support.
British lawyer James Netto and lawyer Kelvin Kubai, who finds clients locally in Kenya, said there are nearly 100 documented cases of children born to British soldiers near the British Army Training Unit (Batuk) in Kenya. Neto believes there is more.
James Neto (standing) travels to Kenya to investigate paternity testing case [BBC]
Batuk was established in 1964 and more than 5,000 British personnel pass through each year. The station, located in the market town of Nanyuki, 185 kilometers (115 miles) north of Nairobi, has been the source of huge controversy for decades.
A two-year inquiry released by Kenya’s parliament in December accused British soldiers of operating within a “culture of impunity” at the base, resulting in sexual abuse, two murder charges, human rights abuses, environmental damage and abandonment and neglect of local children.
The British Ministry of Defense responded by saying that it “deeply regrets the problems and challenges that have arisen with the British defense presence in Kenya… We will continue to take all possible actions to resolve these problems.”
-
Outside the UK, listen to The Secret World Podcast hereor watch the Eyes of Africa movie Youtube
In 2024, James Netto first drew attention to the problem of Nanyuki children searching for their fathers. Working with top genetics professor Denise Syndercombe Court, he arrived in Kenya “with a suitcase full of DNA kits.”
They then cross-referenced the DNA samples they collected with genetic profiles viewable in commercial genealogy databases to find absent British military fathers among clients ranging in age from 3 to 70 years old.
“Nothing like this has ever been done before in a British court, with DNA testing on such a scale,” Neto said. He and his team had a wealth of genetic information to compare their samples with. As of last year, there were almost 30 million profiles on Ancestry.com, the largest commercial DNA website, which Syndercombe Court has joined as its primary source.
Neto said they had no idea how many leads they would get and were surprised by the good results. “We have family members who are completely estranged and we have family members who are relatively close, right up to the point where the father is named and identified.”
The breakthrough could be life-changing for Edward and his mother Nasibo, as he will now be entitled to financial support from his father.
Nasibo was ostracized by many of her relatives because she was a single mother, causing her to face financial difficulties [BBC]
“I used to think they were gentlemen,” Nasibo said of the British troops. She believed that Edward’s father truly loved and cared for her. We see a letter the soldier’s mother wrote to Nasibo before she became pregnant, thanking her for making her son so happy. When Nasibo told him she was pregnant, she said he seemed happy. If he was a boy, he urged her to name the child after his brother and return from England with an engagement ring, she said.
But she said when Nasibo was four months pregnant he told her he had to return to the UK to deal with an emergency and cut off all contact.
Nasibo said some of her relatives forced her to leave home and her son was bullied at school because of his light skin.
“They nicknamed him ‘The British Colonist,'” she told us. The British ruled Kenya from 1895 to 1963.
Neto tracked down Edward’s father after a court directed the Ministry of Defence, Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs to share his name and address. The man asked Neto not to reveal his contact details with Nasibo or their son, but lawyers are now launching court proceedings to force him to pay child support.
Another Kenyan, 18-year-old Yvonne, knew even less about her father than Edward did. She was told he served in the British Army, but she didn’t know his name and grew up believing he was dead. Her mother died when she was a baby, and Batuk soldiers allegedly told her grandparents that her father was dead.
The legal project revealed through a match with the man’s mother’s cousin, whose DNA was uploaded to Ancestry.com, that her father was in fact alive and living in the UK.
After breaching five court orders, he finally attended the hearing on the day of the case. He requested a DNA test to confirm he was Yvonne’s father, and a week later the results showed that was the case.
He does not want to contact Yvonne at the moment. But his mother’s cousin said she would love to meet Yvonne.
Not all fathers identified are unwilling to get involved.
Phil, a former British soldier who was stationed in Nanyuki in 2004, said he was delighted to meet his 20-year-old daughter Cathy. He had previously proposed to Cathy’s mother, Maggie, and spent a lot of time with her daughter in her first few months. But when he moved to another deployment location, he said his phone was stolen and they lost their contact information.
Maggie finds it easier to tell Cathy that her father has died. But as she got older, Cathy found out he was still alive and tried messaging him on Facebook, but he said he blocked her account and didn’t recognize them.
Cathy spent years desperately trying to contact her father via Facebook [BBC]
By then, he said, he had left the military, was homeless for a time and struggled with mental health. “The transition to civilian life is not easy,” he said.
Cathy was also struggling and eventually attempted to take her own life.
“Growing up, I felt like I really needed a father figure because there were things my mom couldn’t understand because of race and so on. It made me feel very alone.
“There’s a part of you that you don’t know. Like it’s a complete mystery to you.”
His paternity was recently confirmed by a British court and Phil said he was delighted to have been found, calling it a “very happy surprise”.
He said he was in contact with Cathy and had provided some financial support to her and Maggie.
“I told Cathy…no matter what I do, I can never make up for the time I lost with her. But what I can do is do the best I can.”
Cathy now hopes to visit England.
Neto said that to his knowledge, Phil is the only client father to date who has sent money to his children.
Phil said his mental health has been poor since leaving the army [BBC]
We asked local Kenyan lawyer Kelvin Kubai if he thought there should be a blanket ban on such relationships, given the number of babies born out of wedlock. He set up a charity called Roots Kenya to provide financial support to the children of British soldiers. He strongly disagreed.
“this [would] Inherently very racist as you ask predominantly white soldiers to avoid black women [just] Because they might get them into trouble. The only…possible solution… [is] Just to ensure that these men are responsible when they have children while they are being trained in Kenya. “
They said the work of Neto and Qubai continued and that more cases would be brought to the high court in the coming months.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) told us before we published the article: “If there are no criminal allegations of unlawful activity against British service members and no specific concerns have been raised by local police, the MoD will not investigate. Some paternity claims may relate to consensual relationships, which is not contrary to MoD policy.”
Brigadier Simon Ridgway, commander of the Collective Training Group, which provides British Army training, added that those affected by parent-child relationship issues should work with Kenya’s National Children’s Services. “They then engage with the UK and then we provide every support in answering questions and dealing with those allegations.”
Since our publication, the MoD has issued this additional statement saying it is “deeply concerned by allegations that children are not receiving appropriate support”.
“Any service member found to have failed in their duties should be held accountable for their actions,” the statement added. “Sexual exploitation or abandonment of parental duties is unacceptable.”
A Kenyan parliamentary inquiry in December called on the Nairobi government to establish new mechanisms “to hold Batuk soldiers accountable for the upbringing of children born from consensual relationships, including DNA testing and psychosocial support for children born to Batuk soldiers”.
Updated at 13:00 on 20 April: Following our article, the UK Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” by allegations of children losing support and that “the abandonment of parental duties is unacceptable”.
[BBC]
Get our flagship newsletter with all the top stories you need to start your day. Register here.