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Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki yesterday revealed that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) did not provide intelligence report of the Shakahola murders for the last three years on the day it emerged that 50 new graves holding multiple bodies have been discovered.

Appearing before the senate ad hoc committee investigating the killings, Kindiki said that although initially the agency had provided intelligence, it did not give any information when people started being killed inside the forest.

Kindiki, who had been invited to shed light on the matter, said investigations are at an advanced stage to determine why intelligence sharing was not done even as he disclosed that by Monday evening, a total of 12 bodies had been exhumed from the shallow graves in the forest.

He told the committee that as security officers who visited the scene of crime, they were shocked to find out that Pastor Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the cult, had planted vegetables and in others built structures on the shallow graves to conceal them.

“Up to now, we have recovered 350 bodies, 12 new bodies were recovered yesterday (Monday) while as of now, we have established another 50 graves which we suspect are holding multiple bodies. We have not yet exhausted our search for bodies. We are following the Geneva protocol on handling scenes of crime where atrocities were committed,” he said.

And added: “Was there intelligence? Yes and that is what led to the arrest of pastor Paul Mackenzie. But on the final matter in the forest, there was no intelligence. But we are closing in on why this did not happen. There was no intelligence, especially on the matter of people being killed in the last three years when the massacre happened.”

While giving details of the killings, Kindiki, who also blamed the Judiciary and police officers of laxity in dealing with the matter, also revealed that the killings could have been avoided if the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) could have insisted on having Mackenzie detained.

According to him, Mackenzie has on three occasions been released from custody with the current situation where he is in police custody being the fourth.

He was categorical that the courts should have taken judicial notice that Mackenzie had previously been charged and thus would not have just released him on cash bail adding that the prosecutor should have presented his case differently to make it hard for him to be released.

“The appearance of Mackenzie now is the fourth appearance and it was triggered by two children who died on 20th March 2023 and buried in shallow graves. I can confirm to you the ownership of that farm is a complicated matter. Makenzie had leased the farm with some people who purported to be the owners. In short, Mackenzie was in charge of that territory and did many things,” he said.

Further, Kindiki said that the country could have avoided the situation it is in now, if a report filed by certain individuals who claimed to be owners of the Chakama Ranch in 2020 at the Lango Baya police station saying they had witnessed suspicious characters in the ranch saying that people were being killed, the report was acted upon.

“There is a report made by directors of Chakama ranch who said they were seeing people moving in and out of the forest doing illegal business and no action was taken in 2020, 2021 and in 2023,” he said.

He added: “I hope this committee will be able to talk to the Judiciary. This is also another arm of government. Even the judge is not exceptional. I hope you talk to the Judiciary because we have issues there.”

Although he came to the defence of some of the police officers, he told the committee the security and administration officers who served in Kilifi county at the time the killings happened and  had been invited to appear before them could not do so as some of them are already suspects while others are already witnesses.

Following the killings, he said that the ODPP is under firm instructions to ensure that he does not lose the said case.

 “Some of these people you have invited to speak will not speak, because some of them are suspects and they do not know, others are witnesses and others are at the centre of this case and allowing them to speak would lead to their exposure thus prejudicing the case. I would request that you direct all the questions to me,” he said.

He added: “Losing hundreds of people is a big loss to the country. Since Kenya’s independence, this is the worst attack on our national security. I would like to say on behalf of the former administration when all this started and on behalf of this administration I apologise to the people of Kenya. This is the worst security breach that should never have happened.”