I am at least 90 people believed to have starved themselves to follow a religious cult in Kenya. Last week the police had found 47 bodies of adults and children in an estate owned by a preacher in the Shakahola forest, west of Malindi, in the southern part of the country, and in recent days more have been exhumed. In total, 34 people were rescued who were starving and are currently unable to walk or speak. According to the Kenya Red Cross, 213 are missing.
It may be the worst case of its kind in Kenya, a country where there is a known problem of unregulated and often dangerous religious worship. The Kenyan Interior Minister, Kithure Kindiki, said that the searches were expanded with the aim of “saving as many lives as possible”.
The estate where the bodies were found is owned by Paul Mackenzie (referred to in some sources as Paul Nthenge Mackenzie or Paul Makenzi), a preacher who is part of a Christian-inspired religious group, called Good News International Church. Mackenzie was accused of having attracted dozens of followers to his estate and of having invited them to starve “to meet Jesus”. After that he would have buried them in some graves and mass graves on his estate, where on April 14 the police had found 15 followers, four dead and 11 rescued. Mackenzie was arrested the following day: he had already been arrested twice on suspicion of being involved in the deaths of some people, in 2019 and last March, and in both cases he was later released on bail. He is still under arrest.
Tests on the exhumed bodies are expected to begin on Thursday to ascertain whether the causes of death are actually attributable to Mackenzie’s religious cult.