Piece by: DAVID OCHIENG

30 April 2023

• I am convinced that Shakahola massacre was avoidable, if we did things differently.

• It needs the various security apparatus to work hand in hand with the citizens to help in detection, prevention and prosecution of crimes.

The country is yet to come to terms with the news of Shakahola massacre where scores of pastor Paul Mackenzie followers were starved to death with a promise of meeting Jesus.

How they intended to achieve this mission is not yet clear but so far. However, what we know is that in their attempt to do so, many of them ended up dead while fasting inside a forest in the remote Kilifi’s Shakahola village before being buried unceremoniously in unmarked mass graves.

There are speculations that not all the victims died out of starvation and that some of them may have been murdered in suspected cult killings before being hurriedly buried without the knowledge of their relatives. We wait for the police to investigate this matter to bring to light what actually transpired inside that forest.

The scene is a horrific and sordid mess, and a massacre of inconceivable scale. President William Ruto likened it to “an act akin to terrorism”. The President couldn’t have captured it any better.

Mackenzie is the founder of Good Life [News] International Church, a platform he used to disseminate radical messages to his unsuspecting congregation of staunch followers.

They trusted his teachings and responded to his clarion call in the affirmative, perhaps hoping to find good life in obeying his word.

Presently, the exhumation of the bodies buried in several mass graves in the 800-acre farm in Kilifi is ongoing.

Some people have been rescued malnourished and on the brink of death. One after another, the bodies are exhumed and placed in body bags. It is heartrending. It is like a scene straight out of a page of a fiction novel.

The last time I looked at the statistics by the multiagency security team and the Kenya Red Cross carrying out the exhumation and rescue mission, the body count had hit 89 and counting.

There is fear many more victims of the doomsday cult are yet to be exhumed and many more are still trapped in the forest.

The incident has received wide condemnation from all quarters, as pastor Mackenzie appears unruffled and oblivious of the ramifications of his actions.

In an interview with local media to get his perspective on this horrific and condemnable massacre Mackenzie was adamant that he had committed no crime.

He elucidated that he is a messenger from God on a mission to preach the gospel and save souls.

He argued that he closed his church after a voice spoke to him to do so, informing him that he had accomplished the mission for which he was sent.

As families across the country continue to camp at the murder scene hoping against hopes to find their loved ones alive, we must accept that, as a country, we let the victims of pastor Mackenzie’s cult down.

We did. And it is regrettable that it happened right before our eyes and it went unnoticed. Or was it ignored?

It is pitiable that the cultic killings that took place over a period of time escaped our hawkeyed intelligence system.

How did Mackenzie trick his victims, radicalized them and subjected them to untold torture and misery before finally abandoning them to die without the country’s knowledge?

It calls into question the role of the local administration and the security teams. Was Mackenzie too smart for his criminal activities to be detected?

Well, I know he was arrested at some point in 2017 but nothing fundamental was done to frustrate his mission.

This must prick our collective conscience as a country. It actually tells us that we must never ignore the red flags that were there as early as 2017.

Perhaps if we acted then, we would have saved the country from this devastating catastrophe.

Connected to that is the role of religion in our lives and how it has been used and misused by certain individuals to commit crime.

Increasingly, we see criminals hiding under the guise of religion to commit heinous crimes and engage in dubious and illegal activities. They do this under the cover of religion to avoid being caught.

These elements, who are giving religion a bad name, have perfected the art of deception to an extent that they amass many followers whom they brainwash and indoctrinate and later use them as human shield when they are being pursued.

It is time to call a spade a spade and act swiftly, if we have to prevent another massacre of the magnitude we have witnessed in Shakahola.

We must thus think seriously about the proposal to regulate activities of churches. This is an emotive topic but truth be told: It has come a time when we can no longer avoid it. Churches must also take seriously their role and expose the rotten apples in their midst who are giving them a bad name.

I am convinced that Shakahola massacre was avoidable, if we did things differently. It is a painful lesson we have learned and an unfortunate wakeup call to us.

It is time to act and act decisively. It needs the various security apparatus to work hand in hand with the citizens to help in detection, prevention and prosecution of crimes.

Further, the victims of pastor Mackenzie’s horrendous act deserve justice. A thorough investigation is needed to know who slept on the job.

No stone should be left unturned. In addition, it behooves the police to ensure that Mackenzie and his partners in crime are severely punished to serve as a warning to those with similar motives that our laws will not confer mercy to criminals.

The writer is MDG party leader and Ugenya MP