More bodies exhumed as probe into Kenyan cultic church continues

GOOBJOOG NEWS | NAIROBI: Kenyan authorities have exhumed over 20 more bodies as the search for missing followers of a cult-like church continues in Shakahola forest at the coastal region of the country.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the main suspect Pastor Paul Mackenzie of the Good News International Church who is in police custody operated a “highly organized crime”.

Pastor Mackenzie is accused of ordering his followers to starve their children to death and then themselves so that they can go to heaven warning them that the world was coming to an end.

According to regional official Rhoda Onyancha, the death toll so far stands at 133 amidst fears that the numbers would rise as the exhumation process continues in the expansive property owned by the pastor.

The exhumation exercise was suspended a few days ago due to heavy rainfall experienced in the area with families trooping the area to report missing keen.

“We have many more graves in this forest, and therefore it leads us to conclude that this was a highly organised crime,” Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki told reporters during a visit to the forest Wednesday.

Kindiki added that search and rescue efforts for people “suspected to be holed up in the thickets and bushes have been going on”.

Last week, Kenyan president William Ruto formed a taskforce to launch an inquiry into the deaths as police detain Mr. Mackenize pending further investigations.

Mackenzie has not yet been required to enter a plea. His lawyer, George Kariuki, said he was cooperating with police.