Kenyan Court Convicts Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie of 191 Murders in Starvation Case

A court in the Kenyan city of Mombasa has found self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie and several of his associates guilty of murder in the deaths of 191 people, Al Jazeera reported. The Independent said the victims were 190 children and one adult.

The verdict on Monday ends the main murder trial in a case that exposed gaps in how Kenyan authorities monitor religious groups. Mackenzie had pleaded not guilty and denied the charges against him.

What the court decided

Mackenzie and his co-defendants were accused of running a cult that pushed followers, above all children, to starve so they could “meet Jesus,” according to Al Jazeera. He was charged with 191 counts of murder in January 2024, and his church was banned as an organized criminal group.

Al Jazeera reported that Mackenzie was arrested together with 34 others, including other church leaders, on murder and terrorism-related charges. One of them, his former head of security Enos Amanya Ngala, took a plea deal and agreed to testify for the prosecution. At a 2024 hearing, the Kenya High Court urged prosecutors to cut the charges to 12 to speed up the case.

The accused also denied separate charges that included terrorism, radicalization and keeping children from school, according to Al Jazeera. The Independent reported that he denied charges of manslaughter and child torture as well.

How a taxi driver built a following

Mackenzie grew up in Kwale County and moved to Malindi in the early 1990s to drive a taxi, the Independent reported. A fellow driver, Japheth Charo, told Reuters in 2023 that Mackenzie began attacking other faiths and that his preaching grew extreme.

He founded his church in Malindi in 2003 with his wife. The two outlets give slightly different names for it: Good News International Ministries (Al Jazeera) and Good News International Church (the Independent). It drew thousands of followers across branches in Kenya, and his sermons also reached people through a church TV station and a YouTube channel that had 7,000 subscribers, according to a report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) cited by the Independent.

Al Jazeera said he taught that education was evil, banned medication and urged followers to burn birth certificates and digital IDs. In a March 2023 video, Mackenzie said he was guided by “the voice of Christ” in preaching that the world would end that year, the Independent reported.

From Malindi to the Shakahola forest

Police searched Mackenzie’s Malindi compound in 2017 and found dozens of children living there who were not attending school, according to the Independent. He was charged with running an unregistered education facility but kept preaching until 2019, when his church was shut down. He then moved to the Shakahola forest in Kilifi County, about 70 kilometres (43.4 miles) from Malindi.

Followers were drawn by the promise of affordable farmland, the KNCHR found, but encountered armed militia who enforced the fasting. The commission said those who refused to fast or tried to flee were strangled or clubbed to death.

Authorities acted in 2023 after a man whose wife and daughter had moved to the forest tipped them off, Al Jazeera reported. Police found shallow mass graves and dozens of emaciated survivors. Survivors said Mackenzie ordered children to starve first, then unmarried women, then men, then church leaders, and that he was not believed to have starved himself.

Reports differ on the full toll. Al Jazeera cited 429 reported deaths, including people who later died in hospital, with hundreds still missing. The Independent said the investigation eventually uncovered over 400 bodies, nearly half of them children.

Why it matters: questions about oversight in Kenya

The Independent said the case highlighted failings by Kenyan authorities and weak oversight of churches in the predominantly Christian country. The KNCHR said in a 2024 report that Mackenzie was first arrested in 2017 and charged with radicalization yet kept operating for years. In its view, the arrest should have set off investigations that could have saved lives.

President William Ruto has said government agencies should have been able to prevent the deaths and that he takes responsibility as president, according to the Independent.

What remains unresolved

Mackenzie still faces other proceedings. Prosecutors charged him in connection with 52 other deaths after bodies were exhumed last year in Kwa Binzaro village, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Shakahola, the Independent reported. They say he oversaw the offenses from detention and used radical teachings to draw victims to the site. Al Jazeera reported that officials accused him of luring people by writing notes from his prison cell. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Al Jazeera also reported that officials initially charged 65 rescued followers with attempted suicide, which carries a two-year sentence in Kenya. A Mombasa court instead ordered them held in a rescue center and monitored, after many reportedly refused food.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by Al Jazeera, The Independent