Kenya: Shakahola cult horror reawakens
Fresh bodies have been found in Kilifi, near the mass graves that were discovered in 2023.
Mukanzi Musanga in Kilifi
Two years ago, more than 400 bodies were unearthed in Shakahola Forest near the Kenyan coast, linked to a doomsday sect that coerced its members to starve themselves to “meet Jesus” before the world ends. Now, more than a dozen more bodies have been uncovered in Kwa Binzaro village in the same county, Kilifi.
Speaking to The Continent at the exhumation site earlier this week, human rights activist Walid Sketty said 14 bodies were exhumed on Monday from unmarked graves, some containing multiple bodies. Most of the dead were buried naked in shallow pits hidden in thickets. The bodies were taken to a local morgue where hundreds more bodies from the 2023 Shakahola cult massacre still remain unclaimed. Responders continue to search for more graves and bodies in the area.
This discovery came after reports that several children had disappeared, sparking fear that the apocalyptic cult behind the 2023 tragedy is still active. Shakahola cult leader Paul Mackenzie, who is in prison on charges of manslaughter, terrorism, and torture, is suspected to be behind the Kwa Binzaro deaths as well.
Kenya’s cabinet secretary for interior, Kipchumba Murkomen, said earlier this month that Mackenzie had been communicating with his followers from prison. Some of the recently exhumed bodies are relatives of Mackenzie’s own associates, like Smart Mwakalama and Mary Kadzo, a husband and wife who were part of the Shakahola cult at the time of his 2024 arrest.
Kadzo’s sister Betty Kahindi said DNA tests had confirmed that two of the recently exhumed bodies were her family members. The family has long been haunted by the disappearance of Kadzo’s children – four girls and two boys, aged between two and 15 years. Kahindi lived side by side with her sister Kadzo in nearby Malindi before Kadzo and her husband moved into the Shakahola commune.
“I’m so saddened by this news. We have been pleading with my sister to tell us what happened to the children but she refuses to speak. She doesn’t regret joining the cult and still believes in Mackenzie’s extreme teachings,” Kahindi said.
Kahindi, who is disillusioned with Christianity, converted to Islam in 2024 “in search of peace”.
Kadzo joined Mackenzie’s church, Good News International, years before his doctrine hardened. Although the church was founded in 2003, members say he began shifting toward “end time” sermons in about 2010. He then began discouraging his followers from working, sending their children to school, or seeking medical care, branding these things as “evil”. Some members abandoned the group as its practices became more extreme but Kadzo stayed, standing by her husband who rose to become Mackenzie’s deputy.
The cult’s deadly reality only came to public light in March 2023, when a former follower alerted authorities. Soon after, the country watched in horror as hundreds of bodies were exhumed from the 800-acre forest – more than 190 of them children.
Vespus Chenja, the psychologist who counselled children rescued from the cult, told The Continent that Mackenzie had ordered his followers to starve to death in a sequence: children first, then unmarried adults, women, men and, lastly, church leaders.
Some of the dead may have been killed by other means. Dr Job Gayo, a pathologist who examined bodies at Malindi Sub-County Hospital, told The Continent: “Some of the victims were violently killed by physical force.”
“Around 30% to 40% of the bodies have been identified but most of them remain unclaimed due to the stigma associated with the cult,” Gayo added.
As exhumations continue, activists are calling on the government to secure Shakahola forest as a crime scene, install surveillance technology, and raise awareness against extremism.
Mackenzie’s arrest in 2024 was not his first run-in with the law. In 2017, he and his second wife were charged with running an unregistered school and radicalisation. He was fined for the first charge and acquitted of the second.
What..? How..?! Beyond disturbing.