Sect deaths: Did State officials sleep on the job?

Even as investigative authorities run against time to establish how many people have died in the Shakahola cult mass deaths and how they met their deaths, focus now shifts to government agencies and officials who had the power to forestall the disaster had they acted earlier.

With the number of reported deaths now standing at 90, questions have now emerged over how a single individual could recruit and gather more than 300 people for radicalisation without the knowledge of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), national government and county officials.

More baffling are revelations that Pastor Paul Mackenzie, the leader of Good Life International Church, has been carrying out his activities openly, recruiting followers from as far as Nyanza and Western Kenya and Tanzania.

Some of Mackenzie’s activities, like his brush with local leaders such as Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa and open teaching against education were conspicuous enough to send signals to authorities.

“Just how did this pastor gather so many people from across the country, indoctrinate and starve them without being detected?” a retired senior police officer asked in an interview with PD yesterday.

According to him, all the telltale signs of Mackenzie’s misdeeds were either ignored or some officers remained complicit.

Members of the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) – including Regional, County, Deputy County, Assistant County Commissioners, chiefs and assistant chiefs – ought to have sniffed out what was happening in the 800-acre property that Mackenzie owns and which, those familiar with the region say, is adjacent to a bypass and has elaborate infrastructure, including paved roads and buildings.

NGAO officers supposed to be involved in the coordination of national government activities, including enforcing school attendance, and it is not clear why those working in the region did not find it necessary to take action against a man who openly preached against education.

Regional officials chair the Security and Intelligence Committee meetings in their areas of jurisdiction, again raising questions about why the activities of the cult did not come to their attention.

According to National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, NGAO officials should be held responsible for the cult deaths.

“They have failed in their security roles,” Wetang’ula said.

What role local police played in the saga has also come into sharp focus. National Police Service (NPS) officers are tasked with protecting life and property and detection of crimes. How come they were not aware of all the deaths and burials that occurred within the cult’s precincts?

Hostility

The public had been reporting incidents for the last five years. In October 2018, protesters at Bungale in Magarini demolished one of Mackenzie’s churches on claims of indoctrinating locals with false teachings.

Locals also razed down the home of a pastor who worked for Mackenzie at Good News International Church at Majengo ya Wakala in Bungale for allegedly promoting extremism. Reports from the ground indicate that it was this hostility from neighbours that forced Mackenzie and his team to shift their base to Shakahola.

In October 2019, Benson Mutimba from Mumias, Kakamega, pleaded with the government to help him get back his four sons who had been brainwashed by Mackenzie.

Mutimba said his eldest son, Felix Ndeta, then 23, and a First-Year student at Kibabii University, was the first to be brainwashed before he initiated his siblings; twins aged 13 and the last born aged 10.

The first time police took action this year was on April 13 when the local police and the Malindi Sub-County hospital requested for ambulance to rescue some of the dying faithful. The next day, it was agreed that an inter-agency meeting chaired by the DCC Malindi be convened to address the issues reported about the church.

Interestingly, in October 2017, officers raided the church and rescued about 93 children, leading to the arrest of Mackenzie, one of his wives, Joyce Mwikamba, and some church members. Mackenzie was later taken to court and charged with promoting radicalisation and teaching children in an unregistered school at his church. He denied the charges and was released on a Sh500,000 bond with surety of a similar amount.

Huduma Namba

In 2019, Mackenzie was again arrested for inciting the public against registration for Huduma Namba by likening it to the Number of the Beast. The question, however, remains as to why the police did not put him on their watch list. Were there officers at the local level who were shielding him? If there were, are they to blame for allowing heinous crimes to be committed in the name of religion?

Area officers attached to NIS, which is tasked with collection of intelligence are also on the spot for failing to monitor the activities of the pastor. Some officers from the agency, however, claimed that they had been forwarding reports but were rarely acted upon.

Earlier this month before the revelations of the mass deaths, more than ten people from Shakahola and Msimba villages in Kilifi were seriously injured after neighbours attacked them for being followers of the  church. Were these reports shared with the police and intelligence officers? If they were, who slept on the job?

Also on the spotlight are human rights organisations operating in the area, local elected leaders including the Member of County Assembly, MP, the Kilifi Senator and Governor Gideon Mung’aro. Did they know about the existence of the cult? If they did, what action did they take to stop its insidious activities?

Former Kilifi governor and the current Senate speaker Amason Kingi on Monday blamed NIS for the bizarre mass deaths.

“How did such a heinous crime, organised and executed over a considerable period of time, escape the radar of our intelligence system? How did evil of such an astounding magnitude take place without being detected? he asked.

The speaker wondered how the pastor could gather so many people, indoctrinate, brainwash and starve them in the name of religion and then bury them in a forest without being detected.

National Assembly leader of Minority Opiyo Wandayi, his senate counterpart Stewart Madzayo and Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi have called for an inquiry.

The lawmakers have also demanded the resignation of the Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome and also blamed the NIS for failing to avert the deaths.

“We must audit the criminal justice system and its interactions with the main suspect and members of this cult,” said Wandayi.