How a Kenyan starvation cult led to the deaths of more than 200 people

Some surviving members of the church were also found in a weak condition and a few people died on their way to the hospital. The Red Cross donated a refrigerated container on a truck to help preserve some of the corpses as the morgue was too full, Reuters reported.

What led to one of the worst-ever cases of mass deaths in the eastern African country?

Who is Paul Mackenzie?

Mackenzie was a taxi driver who turned to Evangelical preaching, and had been engaged in it for two decades.

Paul Mackenzie, 50, a Kenyan cult leader accused of ordering his followers to starve to death, appears at Malindi Law Courts, in Malindi, Kenya, May 2, 2023. (REUTERS/Stringer)

The report from The New York Times says, “Evangelical Christianity — and freelance preachers — have surged in popularity across Africa, part of a religious boom on the continent that stands in stark contrast to the rapid secularisation of former colonial powers like Britain, which governed Kenya until 1963.” It adds that evangelicals constitute a significant social group in the country and unlike Roman Catholic or Anglican churches, which are governed by hierarchies and rules, many evangelical churches are “run by independent preachers who have no oversight”.

It also states that Mackenzie was assisted by a woman named Ruth Kahindi, who met him at a local Baptist church, and invited him to preach at her home. Together, they established an organisation. But disagreements over his teaching, and his accusing Kahindi of witchcraft, led to them parting ways in 2008. In an interview with Nation, an African news outlet, she said recently that Mackenzie was married, but his wife died around the time Kahindi broke ties with him.

A blogspot website of the pastor states that Good News International was established on August 17, 2003, and “The church has branches in various regions around Kenya… and Headquartered in Malindi Furunzi area.” It states its mission as “to nurture the faithful holistically in all matters of Christian spirituality as we prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ through teaching and evangelism.”

It speaks of their TV programme titled ‘End Time Messages’, which would broadcast “God’s word based teachings, preaching and prophecy on end times.” It adds, “The programme seeks to bring the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ which is free of deceit and man’s intellect.” Subsequently, Mackenzie established a sprawling campus in Shakahola forests, which are close to the coastal city of Malindi, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya.

What was behind Mackenzie’s ‘starvation cult’?

With his TV show and videos on YouTube, Mackenzie’s popularity was propelled to greater heights. In the most extreme possible sign of their adherence to his views, he told his followers that the world was going to end on April 15 and Satan would rule for 1,000 years, according to a Reuters report. He ordered them to starve themselves and their children to death so they could meet Jesus in heaven ahead of that date, relatives of the victims said.

He is said to have had a three-stage plan, first involving the deaths of children, then women and then himself, along with men. Mackenzie has denied that he told anyone to not eat, investigators said.

Reuters also found that four relatives of those who died said he would cut off his followers from their families and society through his extreme teachings. “Education is evil…Children are being taught lesbianism and gayism in school curriculums,” he said in one video from March.

Earlier in 2017, the compound was searched by authorities and they found 43 children living there without attending school. At the time, charges such as offering education at an unregistered facility were framed but after a plea bargain he continued his teachings.

In 2019 too, the authorities ordered Mackenzie’s church to shut down, police said, and that was when he relocated to the Shakahola forest.

In mid-March this year, a local man told police that his brother and his wife had starved their children to death in the forest on Mackenzie’s orders, according to court records Reuters accessed. Officers searched and found the bodies, after which Mackenzie was arrested, but a magistrate freed him on bail. This only sped up his plans – he returned to the forest and fast-tracked the day the world was set to end, telling followers it would be on April 15 instead of August.

On April 13, police acted on a tip-off and returned to the forest, finding 15 emaciated people there – of whom four were so weak they died before reaching hospital. This led to another arrest for Mackenzie and a more detailed exhumation on April 21, through which they found mass graves.

What comes next for the victims and Paul Mackenzie?

Kenyan President William Ruto said the government will form a judicial commission of inquiry to establish why Mackenzie’s alleged activities had not been detected earlier. On May 10, a Kenyan court denied the preacher bail and extended his detention by 30 days.

“We do not expect that Mr Mackenzie will get out of jail for the rest of his life,” said Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, adding that anyone who assisted him by digging graves or disposing of bodies should also face the harshest penalties under the law.

Why has this become a political issue in Kenya?

President Ruto has been criticised for his handling of the situation and not acting against the perpetrators with enough force. He has apologised for government agencies’ actions, including letting Mackenzie out on bail.

Some critics have also said that Ruto’s alleged reluctance to act was because of his own strong religious views and those of his wife Rachel, who is also an evangelical preacher. He has of late hinted at some kind of “self-regulation”. “I know there are people who are jittery. They are saying we should not regulate the church, and that is correct. Let’s have an institution that self-regulates,” he said. “We want to establish, with religious leaders, how they can agree on a mechanism that makes sure criminals and crooks do not take advantage of religion and faith to cause harm, ” he said, according to Nation.