Stronger legislation needed for forensic, DNA testing

Local authorities have been urged to come up with stronger and clearer laws to guide forensic and DNA testing in the country. A Human Identification Consultant and Infectious Disease Specialist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Central Laboratory, Dr Augustine E. Sagoe, said such a regulation would compel forensic laboratories in the country to do targeted forensic tests. This, he said, would help the laboratories to get regular jobs, make them busy and also enable them to secure funds to run the relevant tests.

Additionally, he said important reagents for such testing would ultimately be utilised and not go waste. Dr Sagoe, who was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic on forensic and DNA testing in Ghana, explained that although the country presently had a legislation that permitted the operation of forensic laboratories, there should be a standard for the whole country as to where specifically to go to if one needed a particular forensic test.

“We should have a legislation that may say for all our criminal investigations in the country, we are doing them at the Police Service Forensic Laboratory. Korle Bu will be prepared for Ghana’s Paternity Lab so that everybody who wants paternity testing will send the samples there,” he explained.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE