PRIME Minister Bruce Golding again served notice Tuesday night of Government's plans to make mandatory the inclusion of fathers' names on their children's birth certificates.

Golding told a town hall meeting at the Portmore Heart Academy that in the event that the father does not wish to come forward, provision will be made for the mother to name the father, after which the named party will be given time to accept or contest.

"Cabinet has given instruction for the laws to be amended that will require the name of the father to be included on the birth certificate of the child," Golding said to loud applause from Portmore residents.

"If the father does not wish to come forward, we are going to make provision for the mother to name the father, we will then serve a notice on the father to say you have been named, and we will give the father an opportunity to challenge that. And if the named person denies that he is the father, then he is going to be required to submit himself to a DNA test."

Loud applause and whistles followed the prime minister's statement.

One resident wanted to know why it was so difficult for the leadership of the two major parties to work together to solve the nation's troubling crime problem.

READ MORE