Kithure Kindiki vows to ensure ‘cult leader’ Paul Mackenzie rots in jail
Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security Prof Kithure Kindiki has vowed to ensure that cult leader Paul Mackenzie is imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Speaking at a church service in Kirinyaga County on Sunday, 4 June 2023, the top security boss said the government will not tolerate such church leaders in society who claim lives through misleading teachings.
“Mackenzie won’t come out, he will stay and age in prison,” Prof Kindiki told the KAG Sagana congregation.
Also read: The high price of freeing Kilifi’s cult leader back in 2019 after he was linked to missing minors
The CS sarcastically prayed that the founder of the Good News International Church would live long enough to cool his heels in prison, saying the punishment would serve as a lesson to him and like-minded cult leaders in the country.
Mackenzie is accused of radicalising his followers by urging them to fast for weeks without eating or drinking, promising that this will enable them to meet Jesus Christ.
Hundreds of his followers have apparently fallen into the trap of misleading religious teachings.
So far, 242 bodies have been exhumed from his Shakahola farm in Kilifi County, with more graves yet to be attended to.
Mackenzie is in custody pending investigations into the matter.
Under Kenyan law, the courts are the only institutions that can decide whether someone is guilty or innocent.
Also read: How air hostess quit her job for Kilifi cult – Nigerian brother-in-law speaks
President William Ruto has described Mackenzie as a criminal and a terrorist who should be behind bars.
The head of state has unveiled a raft of measures to scrutinise the conduct of churches across the country in a bid to weed out cult leaders spreading misleading teachings.
Meanwhile, Prof Kindiki has announced that the third phase of the exhumation of Shakahola bodies will begin today, Monday, 5 June 2023.
“I am saddened to inform the nation that there are many bodies yet to be exhumed. In the third phase, we are looking at 22 graves,” the CS said.
According to Prof Kindiki, each grave contains several bodies.
According to an autopsy conducted on some of the exhumed bodies, the post-mortem revealed that some died of hunger and lack of water, while others were strangled.
Also read: Shakahorror! Kilifi cult’s victims had missing organs