Kenya Cult Starvation Death Toll Reaches 83 with Discovery of More Bodies
An AFP journalist on the scene reported that Kenyan investigators exhumed ten more bodies from mass graves linked to a starvation cult on Tuesday, bringing the total number of victims to 83.
Concerns are growing that the death toll will continue to rise.
Police have spent days searching the Shakahola forest near Malindi after receiving information about a cult led by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who encouraged his followers to starve to death to find God.
According to an AFP journalist, among the ten bodies recovered on Tuesday were three children.
Rescue workers wearing white jumpsuits exhumed the bodies from shallow graves and discovered two malnourished survivors.
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The shocking discovery has reverberated throughout the nation, prompting President William Ruto to pledge a crackdown on “unacceptable” religious groups.
As the number of fatalities increased, officials at the government-run Malindi Sub-County Hospital issued a warning on Tuesday that the morgue was running out of space to store the bodies and was already operating well beyond capacity.
“The hospital mortuary has a capacity of 40 bodies,” said hospital administrator Said Ali, adding that officials had contacted the Kenya Red Cross for refrigerated containers.
Some Good News International Church members are believed to still be hiding in the bush near Shakahola and are in danger of dying if they are not quickly discovered.
Hussein Khalid, the executive director of the rights organization Haki Africa that alerted the police, urged the authorities to dispatch additional rescuers to search the 325-hectare (800-acre) forest for survivors.
“There is a high probability that more people are dying every day,” he told AFP.
“The horror we have witnessed over the past four days has traumatized us. Nothing can prepare you for the sight of shallow mass graves of children.
Investigators told AFP that they discovered bodies crammed into shallow graves, with up to six individuals per grave, while others were simply left on the ground outside.
Monday, Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome informed reporters that 29 people were rescued and transported to hospitals.
‘Unacceptable ideology’
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki has announced plans to visit the site on Tuesday, while Ruto has vowed to take action against rogue pastors like Nthenge “who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology” and compared them to terrorists.
Kenyan authorities investigate the true scope of the “Shakahola Forest Massacre.” Questions have arisen as to how the cult was able to operate undetected. Despite Nthenge having attracted police attention six years prior.
The televangelist was arrested in 2017 on charges of “radicalization.” After he urged parents not to send their children to school, citing the Bible’s disapproval of education.
Nthenge was arrested again last month, according to local media. After two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.
Before turning himself into the police after the Shakahola raid, he was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($700).
The court will hear the case on May 2.
The Kenya Red Cross said 212 people had been reported missing to its support staff in Malindi. Out of which two were reunited with their families.
The case has prompted calls for tighter control of fringe denominations. In a country with a troubling history of self-declared pastors and cults that have dabbled in criminality
Kenya Cult Starvation Death Toll Reaches 83 with Discovery of More Bodies
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