Let me first mention that this will not be the ‘letter of the year’. My views will not be the most popular as the subject that I want to address is sensitive and Kenyans are a religious lot.
Let me also mention that I am a good Catholic and I am not the type to challenge the existence of God. I also don’t contest the existence of miracles in life. However, I am worried about the impact of ‘pastors’ and ‘ witchdoctors’ who are taking hold of every sphere of many a hopeless people’s lives.
Obsession with pastors and the mutated, inexplicable prayers by Kenyans will be a bigger problem than drug addiction soon. Many people do not want to actively package themselves to attract employers.
We have prayers being done on roads because drivers don’t want to think and follow rudimentary road rules. Single people don’t want to open up for dating but run to a ‘kesha’ to land a partner.
Women who are unable to conceive with their husbands are trying to conceive with pastors instead of visiting doctors. Rather than go to hospital for treatment of simple diseases like typhoid or for diagnosis we have hundreds lining up for miracle healing. Rather than save for a better future, we‘panda mbegu’ with all our earnings in the hope of a tenfold harvest.
There is a big difference between prayers, miracles and shortcuts. Most of the actions we engage in amount to nothing more than seeking shortcuts. Many of us watch stage-managed ‘miracles’ on national TV and do not even bother to interrogate these acts. This is despite the fact that a considerable number of miracles are done on people we all know have never had problems with walking, seeing or even hearing.
Almost every electricity pole in every shopping centre in the country has an advertisement for witchdoctorsand their services. The odder their names and claims of coming from Tanzania or Zanzibar, the more potent they are assumed to be. This will be the other addiction the Kenyan has to fight after the religious one. The services offered by witchdoctors are ridiculous but the adverts are an indication that they are demanded by the clients hence the homogeneity in their promotion. Generally, the advertisements claim to offer services on a variety of matters bordering on the most insane including getting a job, winning a court case, landing a raise at work, getting a visa to the US, enhancing sexual prowess for men, dealing with conflicts on land, handling terminations and so forth. Everyone will agree with me that none of these matters need to be solved by a witchdoctor.
These pastors and witchdoctors and those who fall for their lies should bother every rational thinking human. Although many of us face hard times, socially and economically, this should not be an excuse to run for the instant coffee-type solutions being offered by fake pastors and witchdoctors.
Older people must give hope to younger ones. Many of us face challenges and since we have no older persons to refer to, we end up thinking that we are the first humans to lack employment, lose a job, live alone or be broke. This is the gap that ‘pastors’ and witchdoctors are filling in an airtight way.
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