“I have no hope of finding my sister and her six children alive”. Huddled under a makeshift shelter protecting her from the pouring rain, a woman waits outside the Malindi morgue in eastern Kenya.
This is where the bodies of the victims of the “Shakahola Forest massacre” are stored, in which at least 90 members of the Good News International Church died after following the precepts of a certain Paul Mackenzie Nthenge to fast to meet Jesus.
He surrendered to the police
This self-proclaimed pastor has been in detention since April 14. He surrendered to the police during the first police operations. He is due in court on May 2.
Since April 21, investigators have been turning over the red earth of the Shakahola forest, about 80 kilometers from Malindi, discovering shallow mass graves where many children’s bodies are found. On Wednesday April 26, five new bodies were exhumed, bringing the death toll to 98.
A former taxi driver
Paul Mackenzie Nthenge is a former taxi driver who worked in Malindi in the 90s. It was in this tourist town in southern Kenya that he founded the Good News International Church in 2003. This religious movement represented nearly 3,000 members, according to information from TV5 World.
On the site of this sect, it is written: “The mission of this ministry is to nurture the faithful holistically in all areas of Christian spirituality as we prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ through teaching and evangelism”. The spiritual leader regularly posted videos of his sermons on a Youtube channel.
According to the testimonies of relatives of people enrolled in this sect movement, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge asked his followers not to send children to school. He advocated starving the children first, then the women, and finally the men before the end of the world was to come in June.
Arrested for “radicalization”
Paul Mackenzie Nthenge was first arrested in 2017, accused of ” radicalization “ because he advocated not sending children to school, claiming that education was not recognized in the Bible.
He was arrested again last month, after two starving children were killed by their sect-linked parents. He had dismissed the charges and was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (about 670 euros). In 2019, he closes his Church, claiming that “Jesus told me that the work he entrusted to me is finished”reports Le Figaro.
When he was arrested on April 14, authorities managed to save more than 15 people on his property, four of whom were in critical condition and died soon after.
“Shady and unacceptable ideologies”
Hassan Musa, a Kenya Red Cross Society official, said 311 people, “including 150 minors”, were reported missing to the organization in Malindi. The sister of a missing person doesn’t mince words about the imprisoned guru: “He’s a killer, nothing more, nothing less. What religion can cause people to fast until death? ».
Kenyan President William Ruto has vowed to take action against self-proclaimed pastors such as Mr Nthenge “who want to use religion to promote shady and unacceptable ideologies”.
This case also raises many questions about the flaws of the police and judicial authorities, who had known the “pastor” for several years.
