Kindiki outlines new measures to avert repeat of Shakahola massacre
By Joel Sang, July 11, 2023Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has explained what the government plans to do in order to avert a repeat of the Shakahola massacre.
When the CS appeared before the Senate ad hoc Committee investigating the proliferation of religious organisations, he acknowledged that the massacre represented a breach of the country’s security.
The committee, which is chaired by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana, is also investigating the circumstances that led to the deaths in Shakahola, Kilifi County.
Kindiki pledged to push for legal reforms to tame rogue religious leaders operating in the country. He also called for self-regulation to prevent a repeat of the Shakahola massacre, where more than 300 people died after fasting to death in religious heroism.
Breach of security
“The Shakahola massacre is the worst breach of security in the history of our Country. To avert a repeat of this tragedy, the government will relentlessly push for legal reforms to tame rogue preachers who misuse the scriptures to mislead their followers and indoctrinate them through religious extremism.
“Self-regulation will also be an integral part of the regulatory framework and reforms in the management of religious organisations. Law enforcement will be strengthened to tame the proliferation of unaccountable religious activities that include the indoctrination of innocent people.
“A vast majority of religious organisations and leaders are responsible, law-abiding, and diligent, and they have played a pivotal role in development. The small minority who are rogues must not be allowed to blot out the place, space, and value of religion and religious activities in the country,” Kindiki said in a statement.
Kindiki’s assurance
Kindiki’s assurances come after he condemned religious leaders who criticise the government’s measures to curb a repetition of what has been witnessed in Shakahola.
“We lost many Kenyans whose sin was to follow and believe a person they thought was the man of God.
“Families perished inside the Shakahola forest, we saw families of six and seven buried in one grave, so for those religious leaders who criticise the government for the steps they are taking, then I tell them they are wrong because we will not sleep on the job,” the CS is quoted as saying by a local media outlet.
By Monday, the death toll at the Shakahola Forest had hit 350 after 12 more bodies were recovered from a mass grave by forensic experts and homicide detectives.
Four members of a family were believed to have been buried in one grave, as the exhumation process reached its fourth phase. The exhumed bodies are believed to belong to members of Pastor Paul Makenzie’s church.
Chakama Ranching ownership
Meanwhile, Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir, who represented Lands Cabinet Secretary Zachariah Njeru, appeared before the Senate on Monday, July 10, 2023, to shed more light on the ownership of the ranch where the mass graves were found.
In the documents tabled by the PS, the government allocated L.R. No. 13472 to Chakama Ranching Company Ltd.
“On December 5, 1985, L.R. No. 13472, measuring approximately 100,000 acres, was registered in favour of Chakama Ranching Company Ltd. as grant No. CR. 17458 for a term of 45 years commencing December 17, 1984,” the documents presented before the Mungatana-led senate committee showed.
It further showed that L.R. No. 13472 was later subdivided, giving rise to L.R. No. 13472/1 and L.R. No. 13472/1.
“We have already established that the unfortunate events took place within L.R. Nos. 13472/7 and 8 (formerly LR. No. 13472/3 and L.R. No. 13472/4),” the former Lang’ata Member of Parliament said.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie of the Good News Church is said to have invaded the land where he allocated his followers small plots and misled them to fast to death with a promise of “meeting Jesus”.