Death toll in Kenyan starvation cult rises to 58, police say

World
By William

Kenya’s police chief says the death toll includes eight people who were initially found emaciated and alive.

Kenyan police have recovered 58 bodies, most from mass graves in a forest in eastern Kenya, believed to be followers of a Christian sect who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves, the country’s police chief said Monday.

The death toll, which has risen repeatedly due to excavations, could rise even further. The Kenya Red Cross said 112 people had been reported missing to a search and advisory agency it set up at a local hospital.

Followers of the self-proclaimed Good News International Church lived in several remote settlements in a 324-acre area of ​​Shakahola Forest.

Kenyan police chief Japhet Koome, who visited the site, said the deceased included 50 people found in mass graves, as well as eight who were found alive and emaciated but later died.

He added that 29 survivors have been rescued and police are still looking for possible others.

“Forensic detectives, homicide detectives, other police officers and some government pathologists are here with us to conduct investigations and excavations,” Koome said in remarks broadcast on Kenyan television.

The cult’s leader, Paul Mackenzie, was arrested on April 14 following a tip that suggested shallow graves containing the bodies of at least 31 of his followers. Koome said 14 other cult members were in police custody.

Mackenzie was arraigned at Malindi Law Courts on April 15, where the judge gave police 14 days to investigate while he was held in custody. Kenyan media have reported that he is refusing food and water.

There has been no comment from a Mackenzie representative so far.

President William Ruto said Mackenzie’s teachings were contrary to any authentic religion.

“Mr. Mackenzie pretends and pretends to be a preacher when in fact he is a horrible criminal,” said Ruto, who was speaking at an unrelated public event just outside Nairobi.

He said he instructed relevant agencies to address the cause of what happened and “deal with people who want to use religion to promote strange, unacceptable ideologies in the Republic of Kenya that are taking unnecessary lives”.

Interior Minister Kindiki said in his tweet on Sunday that the entire forest had been closed off by police and declared a “crime scene”.

In his tweet, the minister said the incident was “the clearest violation of the constitutionally enshrined human right to freedom of worship.”

“While the state respects freedom of religion,” he said, those responsible should receive “heavy penalties.” There should be “stricter regulations”. [including self-regulation] of any future church, mosque, temple or synagogue,” he added.

Mackenzie had already been arrested twice before, in 2019 and in March this year, in connection with the deaths of children. Each time he was released on bail and both cases are still pending in court.

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