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So far 110 bodies have been exhumed in the Shakahola forest, believed to be followers of the controversial pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie of the Good News International Church. A shocking number that might continue to grow as investigation continue.
Mackenzie is accused of urging his followers to starve themselves to death and radicalizing his congregation. His preaching includes anti-government, anti-education and anti-modern medicine tropes. But according to a BBC report, a review of videos of his preaching did not find evidence of him directly ordering his followers to starve themselves to death but the BBC said Mackenzies preachings made numerous references to followers sacrificing what they hold dear, including their lives.
A united team of Government pathologists led by Johansen Oduor, detectives from the homicide unit, forensic unit, and government chemists, among others, are conducting autopsies on the exhumed bodies.
According to KBC, Oduor said 8 out of 10 bodies examined showed evidence of starvation, but the bodies of two children had cyanosis, blue discoloration of the fingernails induced by asphyxiation, suggesting they may have died from asphyxiation.
The Red Cross on Wednesday reported that 112 people were missing as the Shakahola massacre probe continued last week.
Malindi Sub County and the Kilifi Sub County hospitals’ morgue were overwhelmed by the bodies exhumed from the Shakahola forest.
As the exhumation exercise continued, Red Cross Kenya took a 200-capacity mobile morgue to hold the bodies.
On Tuesday, the Inspector General of the police, Japhet Koome, said 29 survivors had been retrieved from the vast 800-acre Shakahola forest and were receiving medical aid.
The government on Wednesday declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Shakahola village in Malindi for 30 days. Interior CS Prof Kithure Kindiki stated that the curfew would begin at 6 pm and end at 6 am.
“There shall be no public gatherings, processions, or movement either alone or as a group during the period of curfew into and out of Chakama Ranch except as shall be permitted, in writing, by
Kilifi County Police Commander in consultation with the Operation Commander,” Kindiki said in a statement.
“The area is an active security operation zone and no access to it by the public shall be permitted effective today, April 26, 2023, except as may be permitted by the operation Commander and/or until these orders are vacated,” Kindiki added.
The minister said that the multi-agency security team on the ground would upscale the search and rescue mission in the entire 800-acre parcel of land that is part of the Shakahola ranch to save as many lives as possible.
Media Denied Access
Shortly after the curfew was gazetted, the police banned the media from covering the ongoing operation in the area. No reason was provided for the decision.
The Media Council Of Kenya swiftly criticized the government for blocking the media from covering the operation of exhuming bodies buried in Shakahola Forest.
“Denying the media access to report on such a matter of public interest will open the floodgates of misinformation, rumors and confusion to the whole country. It violates the principles of press freedom and the right to information,” the Council said on Thursday.
“It is the media that drew attention of the country to the sad happening for several weeks before any GoK intervention. We call for the establishment of a media center and regular press briefings on site to ensure media access and dissemination of accurate information,” the Council added.
Azimio leader Raila Odinga has demanded the government to allow the media to observe the exhumation process accusing the government of a cover-up. Odinga reminded the crowd that him and his wife Ida were vilified and accused of being devil worshippers where Mama Ida suggested churches should be regulated.
Government Criticized as Azimio Link President Ruto to Cult Pastors
Meanwhile, harsh criticism of the government continued from various sectors, including the public, civil rights groups, and, surprisingly, the county government of Kilifi.
Azimio la Umoja has released a statement on the Shakahola deaths, heavily criticizing the government for enabling religious cults to operate freely in the country. The statement said President Ruto owes Kenyans an explanation.
“In the matter of Shakahola and the growth of cult activities in the nation, Mr. Ruto is as much a suspect as all the cult pastors from Shakahola and beyond,” Azimio statement said. “The so-called pastors are the people who set up the so-called sanctuary at Ruto’s former residence in Karen as the deputy president.”
The Azimio statement linked President Ruto, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and their spouses to the cult leaders, saying they formed part of the prayer warriors called to sanctify Kenya.
“The so-called pastors aided the introduction of mandatory fasting that started in 2015 at the DP’s residence in Karen and which have been carried over to the State House where everyone is compelled to fast every Wednesday regardless of faith,” the Azimio statement posted on Twitter said, labeling the State House a “Shakahola Annex.”
Second Lady Bishop Dorcas Gachugua, whose photo and videos are circling online with her sharing the stage with Pastor Ezekiel Odero, has denounced Mackenzie calling him a criminal.
“If Paul Mackenzie is a criminal, he should be treated as an individual. Even his family should not be part of his crime. Paul Mackenzie is not the church, in fact, he has said he is not a pastor but he is Mr Paul,“ the second lady said. “We have a law where when somebody is a criminal the procedure should be followed, but we cannot stand there and say because one Christian has been caught in a compromising situation, the whole body of Christ should be condemned; No, we must stop that, because it is not right.”
On our planned protest rallies, we confirm that they are on tomorrow, beginning 6 am on 2nd May 2023. #MaandamanoTuesday pic.twitter.com/MRpXXS9dAy
— Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) May 1, 2023
But criticism continues.
“Concerning the Shakahola massacre, the national government should be held responsible, not the county government. Accountability should be asked of the security teams. We have intelligence on the ground, police, chiefs, assistant chiefs, village elder, Nyumba Kumi,” Gideon Mung’aro, the Kilifi governor, hit at the national government.
Dr. Ezekiel Mutua, the former Kenya Film Classification Board Chairperson, blamed the government, particularly the judiciary, for letting Mackenzie free after KFCB raised eyebrows on his teachings.
“When we examined Pastor Mackenzie’s teachings, we thought the teachings were radical. We enlisted the anti-terror police unit and worked with them, arrested this televangelist and took him to Court and I ordered the closure of the station,” Mutua said.
Beatrice Elachi, the MP of Dagoretti North Constituency, said: “The church needs to regulate itself and ensure what is being preached in churches is true doctrine. Muslims have been able to ensure that nobody jokes about their religion.”
The government on Thursday went after Pastor Ezekiel Odero, the famous televangelist of New Life Prayer Centre and Church. Officers from the DCI arrested him over alleged deaths in his church at Makueni in Kilifi. His arrest was also linked to the Shakahola massacre.
Pastor Odero was Friday charged with terrorism at Shanzu Law Court in Kilifi. The televangelist was accused of having links to Pastor Mackenzie, whose cult is blamed for the deaths of over 100 people at Shakahola Forest.
The Prosecution asked for more time to hold Ezekiel as they finalized investigations. The Court also said it needed more time to research the case before delivering its ruling on May 2. Meanwhile, it ruled that Odero remains in custody until the day of judgment.
Lawyers defend Pastor Ezekiel Odera
On Saturday, lawyers Danstan Omari and Cliff Ombeta announced they had joined the defense team for Pastor Ezekiel Odero.
The lawyers said the pastor was innocent, adding that contrary to the number of deaths alleged, only 15 people had died in his church.
“For the last one year and a month that the institution has been in existence, a total of around 15 people have died within the premises of pastor Ezekiel’s church,” said Omari.
“None of those deaths have been reported by the church, it is the family members who bring these people who report before they are allowed to go and bury the bodies,” he added.
On Friday, the Communication Authority of Kenya suspended World Evangelism and Times TV— the TV stations
associated with Pastors Paul Mackenzie and Ezekiel Odero.
“Following an extensive review of content aired by the two stations between January-April, 2023, the Authority established that the TV stations violated broadcasting standards requirements and license conditions,” CA said.
“The World Evangelism TV was found to have aired inappropriate content on exorcism during the watershed period as well as 12 other violations. Similarly, Times TV aired inappropriate content on exorcism and flouted 17 other broadcasting license conditions,” it added.
The Authority further directed the broadcast signal distributor, Pan African Network Group (PANG) Limited, to cease carrying the two stations on its platform until further notice.
Judicial Commission of Inquiry
President William Ruto Sunday said he will appoint a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to conduct an investigation into the Shakahola massacre.
Ruto said that the commission would be counted on to go through the case with a fine tooth comb and hold accountable everyone found guilty.
“This week I will appoint a Judicial Commission of Inquiry so that we can get to the bottom of what happened in Shakahola with Mackenzie and all his collaborators,” said Ruto.
Ruto also said he will hold extensive discussions with spiritual leaders from across the country to develop a legal framework within which religious centres will operate.
“I will hold consultations with our religious leaders to have a taskforce so that we can weed out the characters who want to abuse religion to run businesses and things that are anti-religion,” he said.
“We want to provide a framework agreed with our religious leaders that will provide for self-regulation so that our church, religion and spiritual leaders can have a mechanism where they can point out to the government those who want to abuse religion for other purposes,” he said.
The President revealed that all commissioners and county officers had been transferred for indolence.
“We transferred all those who slept on the job, the commissioners, policemen, CID officers who were there when the death of many Kenyans was happening. We have told them to leave so that we can know what really happened,” he said.
Pastor Mackenzie’s History of past run-ins with the law
Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of Good News International Ministries – Malindi was first arraigned on October 17 in 2017 and charged with multiple counts among them radicalisation, promotion of extreme beliefs, offering education in unregistered institutions, failure to take his children to compulsory primary and secondary education and failure to provide the children with education.
In 2019, he faced other charges at the Malindi Magistrate’s Court. Few of his followers were also charged on various occasions with child neglect. The complaints against Pastor Mackenzie and his co-accused were also discussed by the Kilifi County Court Users Committee (CUC) on November 15, 2019.
The CUC discussed the issue of radicalization of children by Pastor Mackenzie through his church and TV station. The issue was escalated to the National Government Implementation Committee and the Communications Authority, and the CUC was advised the matter had been forwarded to the Cabinet for discussion in the coming weeks. The TV station’s license was revoked by the Communications Authority.
In 2017, Mackenzie was charged with the criminal offense of offering Basic Education in an un- registered institution contrary to Section 76(1) (2) and Section 92(a) of the Basic Education Act.
In the same year, he was charged with revitalization on September 29 at Good News International Ministries in Malindi where he promoted an extreme belief system for the purposes of facilitating ideological bases to advance religious and social change.
Pastor Mackenzie pleaded not guilty and the Prosecution opposed bail. The Court ordered that Care and Protection Files be opened for the Children and also a Pre Bail Report be filed. The Court on October 19 the same year granted Mackenzie conditional cash bail of Kshs.100,000.00 in the alternative Bond of Kshs.500,000.00 with one surety and upon release be reporting to the OCS Malindi each week.
The Court also ordered that the matter be heard on priority basis as it was a public interest matter.
The matter was heard and determined and the accused was acquitted on 29.10.2021 under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
In 2019 he was also charged with three criminal counts including;Incitement to disobedience of the law; being in possession and distributing films to the public which had not been examined and classified by Kenya Film Classification Board and operating a filming studio and producing films without valid filming license from Kenya Film Classification Board.
The State made an application to hold Pastor Mackenzie and 20 others for 30 days on grounds that they were to carry out investigations for radicalization of children after they were found with 73 Children in a church in what was believed to have been a radicalisation process.
The Court allowed the other suspects to be held for a period of seven days for further investigations.
On March 3, 2023, the State moved the Court seeking orders to hold Pastor Paul Mackenzie for a period of 14 days for being connected to murder of two children who had succumbed to starvation and suffocation at Shakahola and buried in a shallow grave. The matter was heard and the respondent released on a cash bail of Kshs.10,000.00 and ordered to report to the police station as and when required to aid in investigations. The ODPP filed a Review of the Orders to the High court which was dismissed for lack of merit.
On April 17 2023, the State moved the Court seeking orders to allow the chief pathologist to exhume remains of 14 unknown bodies buried at Shakahola for post mortem, toxicology and DNA tests.
The matter was heard and orders were granted for exhumation, post mortem, toxicology and DNA testing.
On the same day, the State sought court orders to hold the 14 respondents for 30 days as they we linked to the offences of murder, suicide, mansghter, conspiracy, kill, criminal recklessness and negligence, abducting in order to confine, accessories to the fact, child cruelty, child neglect, attempted suicide and others.
On April 25, 2023, the State moved to Court to seek further orders for the exhumation
on the 800 acres of land owned by Pastor Paul Mackenzie at Shakahola together with orders for DNA, postmortem and toxicology tests for any bodies that would be found buried.
The application was allowed and further directed that the exhumation is limited to the 800 acres of land at Shakahola as mapped out by the scene of crime experts.
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