Christians desperate for jobs, money, love and power troop to witchdoctors

Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday. But then if Christians are protected by the blood of Jesus Christ, why do Africans still lay trust in witchdoctors? One wag, I forgot who, said the average African sitting in a church will have a Bible in hand, and witchdoctor’s talisman in his or her pocket — just in case!

In spite of widespread assumptions, the incidence of magic and witchcraft does not necessarily decrease in the course of modernisation, urbanisation and globalisation. In fact, experiences in most African societies, here in Kenya and elsewhere, testify to the fact that rather than disappear, contemporary ideas and practices of witchcraft are more a response to modern exigencies than a lingering cultural custom.