I find myself under the supervision of a man who has no confidence in himself as a supervisor. He is always confused and unable to give any insightful suggestions. his usual response to questions is ' i don't know' when you probe further, he tells you he is not God. I wonder why you will advertise a project that you know next to nothing about and expect the student to solve the problem from scratch. I really wish there is a way i could change my supervisor cos its affecting my health. I have lost the motivation of persuing a PhD

I think it depends what he is lacking knowledge on, is it just the literature? or 'what makes a good PhD'?

When I started my PhD i was doing it in an area my sup knew extensively, but it soon became clear I needed to change direction. Now I am doing it on an area she knows nothing about. however, she is still able to guide me on what style of writing I need, how to lay things out and structure things correctly and what makes a good study design etc.

If he is struggling on all these points, then I am sure he wouldn't mind you taking up a second supervisor, or consulting subject matter experts - although make sure they don't swoop down and steal your ideas!

I'm so sorry to hear of your predicament!
Have you contacted your graduate research school? Surely there is someone there who can speak to you.
Or does your school have a separate Mentor or Postgraduate Tutor?
Speak to someone and see if they can offer a solution; either change supervisor or get a back-up supervisor (a 2nd supervisor).
Find someone from your university and speak to them in confidence.

Here you will only get virtual answers; you need to speak to a real person from your real university so that you won't fall sick in the long run.

goodluck satchi

To echo Sneeks I think that supervisors are project managers more than anything. Again my sup is not an expert in my area but he is able to look at my conceptual model, question certain links between chapters, suggest different ways of approaching topics and how to generally shape a thesis that will get you published. I can't ask him any direct questions about what I am researching as its not his responsibility - its my job to answer my questions. I ask him more house working questions about style, structure etc more than anything.