Deya: Man of miracles or a lying preacher?

The law believes that it is more likely Pastor Gilbert Deya is a liar and a baby thief than that he, by prayer alone, is able to impregnate infertile and menopausal women.

Mr Deya, with legendary hubris, not only expects the world to believe his miracle babies story but has paraded 22 members of his own congregation who he claims to have helped get babies by non-biological means.

The Kenyan authorities have requested his extradition from the UK, where he preaches, to return home and face charges of child trafficking. His wife, Mary Deya, who is also in the miracle babies business, was charged with stealing a baby from Pumwani Maternity Hospital. She claimed to have given birth to the baby, the grandmother that she is.

Doctors who examined her arrived at a conclusion that was substantially different from hers. Not only had she not had a baby, they testified, in their medical opinion she had not been intimate with a man for at least two years. Comforting as that may have been to her absent husband, the court found Mrs Deya guilty and she was sent to jail.

Her husband’s story is the classic rags-to-riches tale. He is a man who against all odds, has risen from a dusty village in Bondo District to a lavish, publicity-loving televangelist with a 35,000-flock in his UK based church. Bishop Gilbert Juma Deya, he of the miracle babies infamy, has dined and wined with kings and queens and has even boasted that he could bring down governments.

“I am a big man. Don’t joke with me. I have political, social and economic power to pull down or build a government ...I spend my time making things happen. I am a schemer, if you want to call it that,” he was quoted as having said recently.

Despite his immense wealth, things have not been all that rosy for the founder of the Gilbert Deya Ministries – who is now staring at an extradition order to Kenya to face trial over the miracle babies saga, which has been linked to child trafficking. But who is he? Bishop Deya was born February 2, 1952, to Samuel Oyanda Deya and Monica Nono Deya in Juja near Thika Town. They then moved to their ancestral home in Bondo where he spent his childhood. He was at the time only known as Juma Deya.

And just how did he acquire the name Gilbert? As was the norm, during the time, all children had to choose “Christian” names. His parents chose the name John, a name he rehearsed every day for the baptism ceremony. But on the day of his christening, things took a dramatic turn. When his turn at the baptismal fount came, the cheeky boy replied to the vicar’s request for a name with a question of his own: “What is your name, sir?”

Rather taken aback by this level of impudence, the vicar replied, curtly: “Gilbert”. At this point, the young Deya unhesitatingly declared that his name was also Gilbert.

Grass-thatch hut

And this is how a childhood prank led to Juma Deya being called ‘Gilbert’ instead of John. The Deyas were a poor family living in a grass-thatch hut that served as kitchen, lounge, bedroom and pen for the few domestic animals the family owned. In these circumstances, he and his siblings suffered every now and then from communicable diseases most of which they contracted from their livestock.

His mother, had to endure the pain and distress of taking care of the family. On a bad day, young Gilbert and his siblings would have to make do with the local staple, millet porridge. To survive in these harsh conditions, he made friends with children whose parents could afford food.

In the book, Deya and the Miracle Babies authored by Gakuru wa Macharia, he says: “It did not matter how badly these friends would treat me, I would maintain their friendship, if only to enable me to enjoy a decent meal.” Further, he resorted to begging. This was at the tender age of 10. According to the book, Bishop Deya, at the time prowled the dusty streets of Got Abiero “like a hungry fox waiting to pounce on a wayward chicken”.

He would follow well-dressed people down the streets, persistently begging for a few pennies until, out of exasperation, they threw him some coins. To force her husband to pay Deya’s fees, his mother appealed to the local chief who promptly sold some of their cows. With the money raised, Archbishop Deya was enrolled at Nyagunda Primary School, at the age of 13.