This archive report was first published on 2 October 2019.
On May 2, Calendi Mwajuma gave birth to a baby girl in Nakuru West Constituency. However, on July 1, the baby vanished from her house in Kwa Rhonda slum, leaving Mwajuma and her husband Moses Aura in a state of distress.
After six weeks of searching, police found the baby in Busia County on August 11. However, Lilian Auma, from whom the baby was recovered, insisted she was its biological mother.
On August 11, Auma was arrested in Busia, and the court stopped her from entering a plea on charges of child trafficking. Instead, Principal Magistrate Bernard Mararo ordered DNA tests on both women and the baby to determine who the real mother was.
On August 26, samples from the two women and the baby were taken. The results from the Government laboratory, compiled by Pamela Okello and presented in court on September 26, threw the entire case into a spin: neither Auma nor Mwajuma is the baby's mother.
“Based on DNA profile generated from the listed samples, both Auma and Mwajuma are excluded as biological mothers to the infant,” stated the report.
The report presented before Mr Mararo stated that the baby had no gain of DNA from either of the women. It stated that every baby is supposed to inherit half of their DNA from their biological mother and half from their biological father. In this case, no one seems to know whose DNA the little one is carrying.
Baffled, the court has referred the case back to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to answer the question: Whose baby is it?
Speaking to The Standard, Mwajuma maintained that the baby was hers. She said she was willing to undergo another DNA test from an independent laboratory to prove that.
However, Mwajuma's first suspects are the police. She produced an Occurrence Book Number 19/11/08/2019 that reported threats made to her and the husband after they reported the baby's disappearance at Rhonda Police Post.
County Police Commander Steven Matu said fresh investigation had begun. He said the investigations would dwell on where both women got the child they both laid claims on.
