The death toll connected to the apocalyptic “doomsday” cult led by Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a former taxi driver turned televangelist, has soared beyond 200, as authorities continue to discover additional bodies.
Kenyan officials have noted that the majority of the unearthed corpses displayed signs of severe malnutrition, as Mackenzie is believed to have instructed his followers to fast until starvation in order to ascend and join Jesus.
Recent reports indicate that the cult prioritized the demise of children, who were deliberately starved to death under the scorching sun during the cult’s final days.
Primarily operating in coastal Kenya on Mackenzie’s vast 800-acre property in Kilifi County, authorities uncovered multiple mass graves, while hundreds more followers are still missing.
Mackenzie, arrested last month, is expected to face charges linked to terrorism.
Despite Mackenzie’s insistence of innocence and his claim that he dissolved his church in 2019, and moved to his property in the Shakahola forest for farming purposes, autopsies of over 100 bodies revealed that the victims died from starvation, suffocation, strangulation, and blunt force injuries. Some local news sources reported that many bodies were devoid of internal organs. Mackenzie will be charged along with his wife and 16 other suspects
Coast regional commissioner Rhoda Onyancha reported that 26 individuals have been arrested, and 610 people have been declared missing by their families. The precise number of survivors rescued from Mackenzie’s property remains unknown, but some were discovered in such feeble condition that they were unable to walk.
This distressing case has raised red flags about other religious cults in Kenya, prompting the police to question other spiritual leaders with deceptive teachings that breach human rights. Kenyan President William Ruto has formed a commission of inquiry to scrutinize the large number of deaths under the pastor’s control and propose action against institutions that neglected to act against the cult leader.
Kenya’s President Ruto, himself a religious man and whose wife is an evangelical preacher, has hesitated about putting restrictions on religious activities in the country, but the recent discoveries have forced him to seek advice from church leaders and legal experts.
Mackenzie has previously encountered legal issues and is currently facing charges relating to multiple child deaths in his church in an ongoing case. Authorities were alerted to the situation by nearby residents when Mackenzie’s followers started to move into the area.
The horrifying scope of the event, dubbed the “Shakahola Massacre,” has left the Kenyan government struggling to comprehend how, in a country that regards itself as one of the most progressive and stable in Africa, law enforcement could overlook the grisly activities happening on a substantial piece of land situated between two major tourist attractions.
