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As it happens6:31 a.mKenyan authorities have ignored warnings about death cults, human rights groups say
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.
Dozens of lives could have been saved if Kenyan authorities had acted more quickly to crack down on a notorious Christian death cult, a local social justice organization has said.
On Tuesday, Kenyan authorities recovered 89 bodies – some of them children – from a mass grave in the Shakahola forest in eastern Kenya, the interior minister said.
The country’s police chief said the dead were followers of a cult that believed they would go to heaven if they starved to death.
The supposed leader of the cult has been arrested, and some of the emaciated people are still in the hospital. The death toll is expected to rise as exhumations continue. The Kenya Red Cross said more than 200 people were reported missing.
But Victor Kaudo, executive director of the Malindi Center for Social Justice, says that should not be done.
“All the blame goes back to the government. Because the government failed to save its people from the beginning,” said Kaudo. As it happens host Nil Koksal.
“We have told you that this is happening [and] nothing.”
WATCH | Kenyan police begin exhuming remains from suspected Christian cult cemetery:
Dozens of bodies have been exhumed from suspected cult sites in Kenya. Investigators said the victims were told they would go to heaven if they starved to death.
The CBC has reached out to the Kenyan government for comment through its embassy in Ottawa. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki promised Kenyans that “nothing will happen again.”
The cult is called ‘ungodly’ education: Kaudo
The alleged leader of the cult is Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, often referred to as Paul Mackenzie. He is a self-styled pastor of the Good News International Church, which is operating in Malindi until the government shuts down in 2019, Kaudo said.
“The government decided to close his church after realizing that he was using the teachings of the Bible in a wrong way. He told the children not to go to school. It is not righteous; it is the devil,” he said.
“The church was closed, so he decided to go to the countryside, his followers followed him.”
Mackenzie was arrested on April 14 after providing information, police said. 14 other cult members were arrested. Kenyan media have reported that Mackenzie is refusing food and water.
“We do not expect that Mr. Mackenzie will be out of jail forever,” Kindiki said, adding that anyone who helped him by digging graves or disposing of bodies should also face the harshest punishment under the law.
Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday called the alleged cult leader “heinous criminals” who have no religion and whose actions are tantamount to “terrorism.”
Mackenzie’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. He previously denied in a statement to local media that he stopped preaching in 2019, and that the accusations against him were the result of hostile propaganda from former followers.
Released on previous bail
This isn’t Mackenzie’s first brush with the authorities. Last month, the police arrested him in connection with the deaths of two boys, and later released him on bail. He was accused of encouraging the children’s parents to starve and suffocate their children to death.
“Right away [after] he was released, he returned to Shakahola, and the grave we got today is believed to be the result of the release he gave,” said Kaudo. “Because these bodies… are still very fresh.”
It’s something Kaudo knows right away. The organization has been working at the site, and says it has witnessed the exhumation of 26 bodies from six graves.
One of the graves, he said, contained eight people, “believed to be a single family with a son, daughter and wife.”
“The situation here is really bad, especially for us as human rights defenders,” Kaudo said. “We just need psychosocial support. Because seeing little children being dug up from shallow graves is really unpleasant.”
He said the organization had been aware of the cult for a long time, and had even worked to rescue some of its members.
“We raised the alarm,” Kaudo said. “No action was taken.”
Kenya’s national police did not respond to a request for comment.
What happens next?
Kaudo said he was worried about what would happen to the survivors.
“The government, itself, is not looking at giving psychosocial support to these people. We are doing that. That means we need help,” he said.
“Because if we rescue him, we take him to the hospital. But after the hospital, where will we take him again? There is no certain place in Kenya that can take such a person.”
He said the cult was able to get away with its activities because the Kenyan government was hesitant to interfere with religious institutions.
Interior Minister Kindiki said this case is a turning point in the threat of religious extremism.
“The government recognizes that this should not be the case,” Kindiki said. “But the government that I represent here, wants to assure Kenyans that it will not happen again.
With files from Reuters and The Associated Press. Interview with Victor Kaudo produced by Kate Swoger.
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