Nairobi, 13 July, 2023 / 8:55 pm (ACI Africa).
Christian leaders in Kenya are "deeply concerned" about the delayed litigation of suspected criminals behind the Shakahola starvation cult that has reportedly claimed at least 360 lives since April 21 when the process of exhuming bodies from the Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County, Eastern Kenya, started.
In a Tuesday, July 11 statement, Christian leaders, who include representatives of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) lament the delayed trial of one, “pastor” Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of “Good News International Church”, who allegedly convinced his followers that starving themselves to death would hasten their departure from this life in order to “meet Jesus”.
The church leaders say that they are “deeply concerned that the persons responsible for facilitating this holocaust are yet to be prosecuted for their crimes against the people of Kenya.”
“We especially observe that there are government officials who over the years failed to take action when reports of deaths and murders in the Shakahola forest were made,” they say, and pose, “When will they be prosecuted for abdication of duty?”
To date, controversial pastor Mackenzie, who, according to media reports, was earlier linked to children’s death, and his accomplices are yet to be prosecuted despite some court mentions at the Shanzu Law courts in the Kenyan coastal County of Mombasa.
