Kenya starvation cult preacher to be charged over 52 more deaths

Cult preacher Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, right, stands at the Malindi Law Courts under tight security, Friday Dec. 1, 2023 for the sentencing of his 2019 case where he had been charged with three counts of being in possession of films intended to incite children against attending school and incite Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Islams on their religion. (AP Photo/Gideon Maundu)

Warning: This story contains disturbing content.

A self-proclaimed preacher in Kenya linked to an infamous starvation cult that killed more than 400 people will be charged over a further 52 deaths at another village, prosecutors said Monday.

In a case that made global headlines when it came to light in 2023, hundreds of people died in what became known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies, discovered just inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter at his trial in Mombasa and has remained in custody.

But last year, Kenya was shocked by the discovery of yet more bodies in the remote village of Binzaro, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Shakahola along the Indian Ocean coast.

It appeared to show that the same cult had continued to operate even after the first massacre site was discovered and Mackenzie arrested.

Efforts to regulate religion in the majority-Christian country have been fiercely opposed in the past as undermining constitutional guarantees of the division between church and state.

In a statement on X, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said a Malindi court had given its go-ahead to “formally charge Good News International Church leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his co-accused over the deaths of 52 people at the Binzaro homestead in Kilifi County”.

Mackenzie and others will be charged with a raft of offences, including radicalisation, “facilitation of terrorist acts”, and murder over the more recent killings, adding to his charges related to Shakahola.

‘Lure victims’

The prosecution told the court Mackenzie was “reasonably suspected to have masterminded” the incidents, saying he used “radical teachings... to lure victims” to the remote village.

The statement said investigators “recovered handwritten notes from (prison) cells occupied by Mackenzie, allegedly detailing transactions conducted through mobile phones”.

Last year, as around 34 bodies and more than 100 body parts were discovered by investigators at Binzaro, residents said the powerful cult had not been suppressed.

“We will have Shakahola Three, we are fearing,” one man told AFP.

Local rights groups also told AFP in October they believed that more bodies would be found.

Authorities faced criticism after Shakahola, following accusations the deaths could have been prevented had there been tougher regulations.

Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, has been accused in previous Shakahola trials of inciting his followers to starve themselves to “meet Jesus”, using enforcers to ensure no one left the forest hideout alive.