Catholic Archbishop Named in Presidential Taskforce to Regulate Kenyan Religious Entities

Kisumu, 05 May, 2023 / 9:18 PM

Archbishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kisumu is among the 17 members appointed to the Presidential Taskforce to facilitate the reviewing of the Legal and Regulatory Framework Governing Religious Organizations in Kenya. 

The taskforce was established by President William Samoei Ruto on Thursday, May 4 amid investigations into the Shakahola starvation cult in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi in Kilifi County.

According to a Kenya Gazette notice published Friday, May 5, members of the taskforce are expected to "formulate proposals for a framework for the regulation, annual reporting, compliance, monitoring, and enforcement action applicable to all religious organizations including declarations of their governance structures, programs, ministries, and charitable activities." 

The taskforce is expected to develop proposals on civil education and an education curriculum that sensitizes Kenyans on how to identify, avoid, or leave cults and similar entities. 

Members of the Presidential Taskforce composed of religious leaders, and legal practitioners, among others, are also to come up with mechanisms for the public to report religious extremism and give proposals on the minimum requirements for religious organizations and their leaders to operate in the East African nation. 

The Taskforce members to be chaired by Reverend Mutava Musyimi, former Secretary General of the National Conference of Churches in Kenya (NCCK), are also expected to recommend actions that may be taken against groups or individuals suspected of founding or leading religious extremism organizations, sects, cults, or similar entities.

Additionally, President Ruto has mandated the taskforce to propose legal amendments that will enable law enforcement agencies to tackle crimes related to cultic beliefs and practices more effectively. 

The naming of the taskforce that is to submit relevant proposals to President Ruto in six months follows revelations around the starvation cult under the leadership of “pastor” Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, the leader of the Good News International Church.

Mackenzie is accused of convincing his followers to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus”, according to media reports about the Kenyan preacher who was earlier linked to children’s death. 

So far, 110 bodies have been exhumed from Mackenzie’s 800-acre property located in the expansive Shakahola forest in Kilifi County.