Deya insider: There were no miracle babies, it was all a hoax

Bishop Gilbert Deya’s miracle babies were not miraculous after all but the fruits of “an intricate web of deceit”, according to a former cleric with the Deya Ministries.

The Rev Rose Atieno Kiserem, who was a senior pastor with the church headed by Bishop Deya, on Thursday confessed that the so-called miracle babies were a “hoax” intended to “hoodwink and dupe” the church’s followers.

Stealing a baby

In May 2007, Ms Kiserem was jailed alongside Bishop Deya’s wife, Mary, and Ms Miriam Nyeko for two years for stealing a baby. She was released from prison in September last year.

And on Thursday, she had this to say about the miracle babies: “According to my own experience and beliefs, the so-called miracle babies were a hoax created by the Deyas and their accomplices to deceive me and other God-fearing people.”

Mrs Kiserem offered a glimpse into the secret operations of the UK-based Kenyan preacher who is wanted by Kenyan police for child trafficking allegations.

She spoke out three days after Bishop Deya’s adopted son, Paul, was held by police on suspicion that he had knifed his four-year-old son to death before stabbing his wife and then himself. The attack reportedly devastated and “disorganised” his adopted father at a time when he is embroiled in a legal battle to stop his extradition to Kenya.

However, the bishop has exhausted his appeal options and is now an unsuccessful asylum seeker, facing imminent deportation.

The Rev Kiserem said she was recruited into the Deya Ministries by the bishop’s “cronies” who were her friends. She was first hired as an interpreter in the many crusades that the Deyas held across the country.

“They told me my experience as an English teacher would be helpful in advancing the cause of the ministry,” she said. “I had a successful career as a beauty consultant, and attended to the grooming needs of the country’s high and mighty before the grand fall.”

Her arrest came as a surprise when the police knocked on the Deyas’ door at Mountain View Estate in Nairobi in 2004.

She recounted how, as a senior a “powerful intercessor”, she was called to witness the “miracle” birth at a clinic in the city’s Huruma neighbourhood.

“One of Mrs Deya’s friends, Ms Miriam Nyeko, had arrived in the country a few days earlier,” she said. “Then Mrs Deya called me and we headed to Eastlands. I sensed something was amiss because Mrs Deya had called a taxi despite having a driver and two cars.

Labour

“After a few minutes, I asked them where we were heading, and immediately Ms Nyeko went into labour! Then Mrs Deya told me she had prayed for her Ugandan visitor during one of her visits to the UK, and that their prayers had finally been answered as the woman was now in labour.”