Shakahola survivor: Efforts to save dying neighbours failed

A survivor of the Shakahola deaths has given a chilling account of her time in the cult.

In her confession to homicide detectives investigating what is fast becoming a genocide, one of controversial Pastor Paul Mackenzie’s followers, a Philomena Kiilu, recounted how she was lured into the cult on the pretext that she could purchase huge chunks of land with as little as Sh3,000.

“A neighbour in Shimba Hills informed me that she had bought land at a throw away price from a renown pastor in Malindi. I bought the idea and after calling a number that she had used to settle at the vast ranch, l was told what was required of me. l followed the instructions and that is how l became the owner of half an acre of land,” she stated.

 “At first l was attracted to the huge dam located inside the ranch whose waters I thought of using to grow crops. But when I sought to find out why there were no farming activities going on at the huge ranch, l was informed that l was there to hasten my meeting with Jesus,” she said.

In her statement, Kiilu revealed that she was asked to pay a “deposit” of Sh3,000 to Mackenzie’s Mpesa number before travelling to Shakahola where upon arrival, she would register with guards at the gate before being shown her house, a temporary structure, where she would live henceforth.

“I travelled to Shakahola in November last year with my two children. I left behind my husband who was to join us later. Upon arrival l was welcomed by three guards and l wrote my name in a ledger book and the number of children l had brought. l was allocated a house within the village and after three days, l was asked to be one of the  “servants” in the Kingdom christened Bethlehem,” she said. 

She added: “My duties included cooking and cleaning for the “king” and his family, after which I would retreat to my hut in the evening. That is how l got a chance to be close to Mackenzie and his family.”

Kiilu claims on the third day, three well-built men came went to her hut and gave her what seemed like an action plan written in Swahili, which would guide her stay there. “In the action plan that was stuck on the door, there were instructions to be followed, failure would attract punishment from Mackenzie’s foot soldiers. The action plan stated that children would be the first to be starved to death in order to escape the world’s suffering and meet God, next would be women while men would be the last,” Kiilu’s report.

The action plan further indicated that women should not plait their hair or get intimate with their partners during the fasting period, children were banned from attending schools or hospitals and once a child died, a report was to be made to Mackenzie to facilitate their burial.

Escape plan

The thought of starving her children to death scared her stiff, prompting her to start hatching an escape plan. Her first attempt to flee failed. “On my second attempt, my 11-year-old son managed to flee while I remained behind with my five-year-old son who had began starving. I was afraid that we would die inside the ranch since my phone had been confiscated,” she added. It was not until January that she escaped. Upon escaping, Kiilu reported the activities of the cult at Langobaya Police Station situated 50kms from Shakahola ranch.

“Police did not act on the information I offered considering what I had witnessed. They took it so casually,” she said.

Kiilu claims that two weeks later, she sought help at the Malindi Police Station. “I was not at peace with what l had witnessed. I wanted those whom I had met and called my neighbuors to be rescued while they were still alive. However my report was ignored although it was entered in the daily Occurrence Book,”she said.

This is when she decided to approach Haki Africa, a local found Human Rights group in Malindi, who upon investigating her claims, found them credible and took up the matter.