On Tuesday, Kenya’s government began handing over the bodies of 429 members of a doomsday cult to their relatives.
Exhumed remains from a large rural Kenyan coastal area have revealed evidence of strangulation and malnutrition. Cult leader Paul Mackenzie is currently facing charges, including murder, after it was alleged that he told his members to starve themselves to death before the world ends so they could meet Jesus, marking one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history.
The self-proclaimed pastor is accused of influencing his Good News International Church members to relocate to Shakahola, a remote forest about two hours west of Malindi. Members of his church resided in secluded settlements spanning 800 acres within Shakahola forest, where over 400 bodies were unearthed. This took place between January 2021 and September 2023.
However, Mackenzie argues that he cannot be held responsible for the deaths as he closed his church in 2019.
DNA testing is being used by the authorities to identify deceased people and their families. The first bodies were given to family members on Tuesday. At the morgue in Malindi, families were gathering loved ones for reburial, and emotions were running high.
Francis Wanje, a father who lost his daughter and seven other family members, pointed at a hearse carrying four bodies.
“We lost eight members of our family,” Wanje said. “We were supposed to get five, but were told that one of the children did not match the DNA. So now we have been given only four (bodies). So we are still hoping that perhaps in the future, we are going to get the other four.”
Mackenzie and dozens of his associates were charged in February with the torture and murder of 191 children and Interior Minister, Kithure Kindiki has declared Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministries a criminal organized group.
Melissa Enoch
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