University of Nairobi Sociologist Dr Karatu Kiemo (a PhD holder) says that in the mainstream Christian faith of modern times titles do matter.
“That is why titles within churches (even traditional churches) are patterned in hierarchical manner,” Kiemo says. “We have deacons, reverends, bishops, pastors…and so on and so forth.”
The title ‘Dr’, Kiemo argues, gives heft to an otherwise mundane existence. “Mostly these are people who want to be taken seriously,” he says.
More often than not when a pastor calls themselves ‘Dr’ it turns out to be a hoax.
The high octane drama of wailing in guttural voices on TV screens, going through sermons while invoking God’s name and cursing demons, is often a defensive mechanism to the lie, says Kiemo.
The scale of deception that such pastors are willing to go to mesmerises Joyce Mogaka, a genetic engineer.
“Everything about these pastors is fake,” Joyce says. “It is all part of a ploy to rip off gullible congregants: the bigger the larger-than life persona they create, more they believe and the more offering and tithe they give.”
This, she adds, is fake-it-to-make it 101: reverse psychology served on a plate of morality, spiced with hope, and presented as faith.
“How else would you describe it?” she asks, rhetorically. “Someone with a fake title [a conman/woman] who preaches about how not to be a faker.”
It annoys her that someone whose only rise to fame is commanding people, who are often desperate for hope, could make themselves ‘Dr’ when people like her go through rigorous academic journey, spanning decades, to acquire such credentials.
There are only a couple of routes towards title ‘Dr’. “You either are a graduate of medicine, dentistry or pharmacy, or you are a PhD holder in a recognised field of study,” Dr Kiemo says.
Outside these precincts then, one is effectively a phony with sinister motives. Which aptly describes Dr Prophet Victor Kanyari, he who was unmasked by a KTN investigation.
Kanyari admitted that he is a Form 2 dropout. He is, therefore, as light years away from the title ‘Dr’ as a distant planet is to the solar system.
