KAMPALA, Uganda — The former Ministry of Education commissioner George Opio, who died while attempting to determine the paternity of his 17 children, has been posthumously confirmed to be the biological father of only 10 of them, according to a recent DNA report submitted to Uganda’s High Court.
Opio, a former commissioner in the Ministry of Education and Sports, died on June 12, 2021, from COVID-19. Before his death, he had grown suspicious of the paternity of some of the children attributed to him. He first had a DNA test done on two children from one of his widows after she reportedly left their family home in January 2021. When the results confirmed his suspicions, he began a more extensive process to test all 17 children.
He died before the final results could be returned to him.
Following Opio’s death, his elderly mother, Majeri Acham, petitioned the Family Division of the High Court to continue her son’s quest for the truth. She was represented by the law firm of Ambrose Tebyasa and Company Advocates. The court granted her application, ordering all 17 children to undergo DNA testing to establish their biological relationship to the deceased.
One of Opio’s widows reportedly initially refused to allow her children to be tested but agreed on one condition: that her late husband’s remains be exhumed to provide a direct DNA sample. The court permitted the request.
On Dec. 23, 2024, Opio’s body was exhumed from his resting place in the Bukedea-Teso region. Samples were collected from the remains, and the body was reburied. The samples from the deceased and the 17 children were submitted to both the government analytical laboratories in Wandegeya and the Makerere University Biomedical School.
A leaked final report dated April 2025 revealed that seven children, including a set of twins, were excluded from Opio’s paternity. The report concluded that the deceased was the biological father of only 10 of the children. Both laboratories issued substantially similar findings. It is understood that five of the children who were not Opio’s, including the twins, were born to his junior widow.
When reached for comment, the family’s lawyer, Ambrose Tebyasa, declined to discuss the matter.
“I am professionally and legally not permitted to discuss clients’ matters through the media,” Tebyasa said.
