Shakahola Cult Massacre-Mdundo Podcast

The Shakahola Cult: How Deadly Kenyan Religious Cult Claimed Hundreds Of Lives

It all started in April 2023 when a man's search for his family led to the exposure of the most controversial religious cult in Kenya's history. The man's wife and daughter had disappeared after they reportedly left home to join a Kilifi-based church called Good News International ministries. Worried about the wellbeing of his loved ones, the man reported the case to the authority who commenced an investigation into the case.

The investigation led the police to Pastor McKenzie who was in charge of the church. Further investigation into the case led to the discovery of emaciated worshipers who had reportedly been instructed to starve to death in order to meet Jesus.

The story quickly gained the attention of the government and the public in general. More people came out to reveal how their relatives disappeared mysteriously after joining Paul McKenzie's church. Over the following weeks, police conducted a thorough search on Paul McKenzie's piece of land where they discovered shallow graves and more survivors of the deadly cult.

Pastor McKenzie together with his accomplices at the church were consequently arrested as the government expanded the search for survivors and victims of the cult in the Shakahola forest. The Ministry of the Interior under Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure took over the case and declared Shakahola forest a crime scene. CS Kindiki Kithure declared the deaths a massacre and it was thus referred to as the Shakahola Massacre.

More shocking details of the massacre continued to surface as police continued with the exhumation of bodies buried in the Shakahola forest which is owned by Pastor McKenzie. As of the date of the publication of this article, the government had exhumed 336 bodies from the forest while Pastor McKenzie remained in police custody.