Kenyan identical girls are twins, DNA result confirms

Dar es Salaam. The families of two girls at the centre of an intriguing identity story in Kenya have said they are yet to make a decision on what to do next after a DNA test confirmed that they are biological sisters.

According to their mother, Kenyan girls Sharon Mathius and Melon Lutenyo were separated at birth in 1999 at Kakamega County Referral Hospital. They only found out about each other on Facebook in 2018 and were inseparable after that.

The girsl were then helped to establish the truth behind their resemblance in a riveting tale running back several years.

Their mother, Rosemary Khaveleli Onyango, told the media that when she gave birth, one of the twins was taken ill and she had to leave her at the hospital. She would come back to breastfeed then go back home. She questioned whether maybe it was at this point that her baby could have been exchanged.DNA tests conducted by Lancet Kenya and released yesterday showed that Sharon and Melon shared identical DNA profiles, with 23 allelic loci tested showing 100 per cent perfect match which is consistent with the two being biologically identical twins.

The report said that Ms Onyango could not be excluded as the biological mother of the twins who have compatible obligatory maternal allelic profile with a 99.999 per cent probability.

The report also excluded Ms Onyango from being the biological mother of Melvis Mbaya with 12 out of 23 loci tested showing a mismatch. (Three or more mismatches are considered grounds of exclusion of paternity) the report stated.

The tests also showed that Melvis Mbaya, who grew up with one of the twins, exhibited a compatible obligatory maternal and paternal allelic profile with those of Ms Angeline Omina and Mr Wilson Lutah Maruti respectively, now her real parents.

The report released by Dr Ahmed Kalebi, also showed that the probability of Melvis being Ms Omina’s daughter was 99.999 per cent. DNA testing was conducted by pathologists at Lancet Kenya Friday.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) which had initially promised to conduct the tests for free, withdrew at the last minute to “let the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) do its investigative work.”

Speaking after the process, Dr Elizabeth Wala, of Multiples to Multiples Society, said her organisation read about the families’ plight and sought to help them settle the case.