Prince Benson Mankotam, a private Legal practitioner, has told Gomoa Central MP, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as Kwame A Plus, that his move to criminalise paternity fraud will have huge ramifications.
The lawyer argued that paternity fraud in Ghana is currently not a criminal offence, adding that it can be pursued as a civil wrong through claims of misrepresentation and compensation.
Mankotam detailed that under civil processes, a person who believes they have been deceived into assuming fatherhood can sue to recover expenses and damages and warned that shifting the issue into criminal law could create serious complications.
According to the lawyer, criminal prosecutions would require the state to prove intentional deception, which he believes will be difficult in many real-life situations.
Speaking on Starr Showbiz with Feeling Daddy, Mankotam argued, “In Ghana, as we speak, paternity fraud is not a crime; rather, it can be a civil wrong. If you are going the criminal route, what you say is that… it should be punishable by imprisonment or by fine, and that has huge ramifications”.
“I don’t think that anyone can say that she is pregnant for another person she has never slept with before,” he said.
He further explained, “I know people who have been pregnant and, because of their encounters with more than one person, they are unable to determine which of them is the actual father”.
The private Legal practitioner also questioned whether the proposal would gain support in Parliament, noting that it could be viewed as an attempt to suppress women, which could carry political effects.
“No politician will agree to such an arrangement… because politicians only think about elections,” he added.
The Gomoa Central MP’s proposed legislation to Parliament has sparked public debate over whether such a law would be healthy for Ghanaian society.
Kwame A Plus plans to lay a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament to criminalise paternity fraud.
The Private Member’s Bill is proposing jail terms for women who knowingly mislead men into raising children who are not biologically theirs, and possibly introducing mandatory DNA testing after birth.
Kwame A Plus, speaking on United Showbiz, explained what he sought to achieve with the bill, saying, “Any child that is born needs to know his father and mother. I know of a man who has birthed 5 children. He is now 70 years just recently learned that four of the children are not his, just one was his.
I know of someone also, who was taking his children abroad, when they went for a DNA test, the woman went to the lawyers and said she was not going to do any DNA test, and she disclosed that the children are not the man’s. The man was abroad, thinking he had four children here and was spending on them”.
He added, “Yesterday I heard Kofi Bentil say when the law is passed, it means we are going to crimalised adultry as a crime, we are not trying to prevent anyone from cheating in their marriage or in a relationship.
The bill we are taking to parliament, we are not thinking about it now; it is already drafted, and we are going to present it”.
See the post below:
Criminalising paternity fraud is "bad for our democracy"… – Prince Benson Mankotam Esq. (Private Legal Practitioner) warns Kwame A-Plus #StarrFM#GHOneNews #EIBNetwork #GHOneTV #NewsAlert pic.twitter.com/fm1vygOj4h
— GHOne TV (@ghonetv) February 14, 2026