Corpses over corpses – the incredible story of the Hunger Sect in Kenya

Mass graves in a remote forest in Kenya. Inside lie dozens of lifeless, emaciated bodies, many of them children, starving to be close to Jesus. This is the responsibility of a single man who propagates an absurd cult.

90 bodies have already been found and more are being exhumed every day. Authorities estimate that 150 people can be buried there.

The hunger cult in Kenya:

This is now happening in Kenya

Yellow barrier tape flutters in the wind between dense bushes and scattered trees. Blue and white body bags lie on the floor. In between, men in white protective suits and masks hack into the earth and bring up corpses wrapped in cotton cloths. Others wear safety vests and rubber gloves and drag the body bags onto vehicles or into the shade of trees. Men in military suits make their rounds. These are the images currently broadcast by Kenyan television stations around the world.

The whole is set in the middle of the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi in southeastern Kenya on an area of ​​325 hectares – the equivalent of 464 football fields. There, wooden crucifixes stand on piles of dirt, waiting to be examined by coroners. The followers of a Kenyan pastor lie in the shallow graves.

The forensic pathologists have been working at this location since last Friday and have since dug at least 14 mass graves. According to Kenyan Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, a “massacre” took place here.

Since day one, Hussein Khalid has been at the side of the coroners, documenting their work for the human rights organization Haki Africa. It was also the organization that led the authorities to the cemeteries.

Khalid spoke to the BBC. He says things like, “Nothing prepares you for mass graves of children” or “the stench is unbearable.” In any case, something can be done against the stench, a refrigerated truck rolled onto the site on Wednesday to serve as a temporary mortuary, the Kenyan Red Cross reports on Twitter. Because the state morgues in Kilifi are now overcrowded. The autopsies will start on Thursday.

What happened on this remote piece of land shocked all of Kenya. But who and what is behind the dead?

The cult leader and his cult

There is one name at the center of the whole tragedy: Paul Mackenzie Nthenge.

Mackenzie was once a taxi driver. In 2003, with his wife Joyce Mwikamba, he founded the Good News International Church in the town of Malindi and as of 2016, he has been preaching his interpretation of the Bible on a private television station. In 2017, he was first arrested for “radicalisation” following a sermon he advised his followers not to send their children to school. Mackenzie, himself a father of seven children, described the incident a few weeks ago as follows:

In 2019, he formally dissolved his congregation because he was already associated with infant mortality. He moved bag and luggage to Shakahola forest where he acquired a huge piece of land. “Jesus told me that the work he gave me is finished. I am no longer a pastor », he explained his decision to leave his career as a televangelist and close his church. Many of his followers followed him anyway.

At the new location, he propagated that only self-imposed famine was the direct path to God and Jesus. Because even though he is no longer preaching, he still has prophetic power and Jesus continues to appear to him and show him the right way, he told reporters with the Kenyan newspaper Nation in March.

Khalid of Haki Africa told AFP the cult appears to have demanded that children starve first, followed by women and finally men.

The pastor was arrested again last month after two children of members of his church were suspected of starvation. He denied the charges and was released on bail. He was due to appear in court on May 2.

But after the first bodies were found on his property on Friday, the police took him back into custody. Ironically, this would have caused him to go on a hunger strike.

The Home Secretary said:

The government has threatened to charge the pastor with terrorism. As Reuters writes, neither Mackenzie nor his lawyer are willing to talk to the media.

Along with Mackenzie, 14 of his followers were arrested for allegedly helping to dig graves or dispose of bodies.

The victims

The followers of the charismatic Mackenzie lived on the property in mud houses with thatched roofs made of palm fronds, scattered among thorns and bushes, television footage shows. Many of them fled the rescuers. But some were no longer able to do so.

Khalid’s associates encountered several survivors who refused to help. One man even said he was sane and knew what he was doing. The living were all taken to a hospital. About 35 people have now been saved in this way, according to the interior minister. He said of the survivors:

Victor Kaudo, from the Malindi Community Human Rights Centre, tells the BBC how his organization was approached by a family member asking for help to save his three children. One of the children was then found in a house “tied up with a rope”. But his sister and brother were already dead.

Khalid estimates that 50 to 60 percent of all remains found and yet to be found can be attributed to children. A spokesman for the authorities also issued a similar assessment to Kenyan broadcaster KTN News. “We even assume that a majority of the victims are children,” he adds hesitantly.

Meanwhile, more and more locals come to the scene of the tragedy to search for missing relatives. The Kenyan Red Cross has therefore set up a tracing and counseling center where suspected cases can be registered. 112 people were reported on Sunday. A man tells how his brother took his three sons to join the Church. He feared they were all dead now, Khalid reports.

Authorities believe that up to 150 bodies can be buried on the site.

sects in Kenya

Kenya is a deeply religious country, with 85 percent of the population identifying as Christian. Many belong to small evangelical churches led by charismatic priests. Such small communities have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years, especially in rural Kenya. According to authorities, there are now more than 4,000 churches.

For some time now, cases have been reported of members of such churches dying because their overwhelmingly influential leaders not only take money out of their pockets, but also influence them, for example, not to seek conventional medical treatment – but to trust God (or the healing power of the priest). The authorities seem powerless. In the Mackenzie case, there have also been several indications in the past that people are starving under his leadership. Something happened a few weeks ago.

The Kenyan interior minister sharply condemned the actions in the Shakahola forest during a press conference on Tuesday. He said something like this should never happen again. He denounced the threat of religious extremism in the country and concluded: