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EDITORIAL | Shakahola cult deaths: Who slept on the job?

‘Pastor’ Paul Mackenzie, the cult leader who lured more than 100, people to death in Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County. PHOTO/UGC

As the number of gruesome deaths at the infamous Shakahola Forest surpasses the hundred mark, questions continue to be raised as to how the nefarious activities of Pastor Paul Mackenzie and his followers escaped the security and investigative arms of government.

The government security pecking order starts from Nyumba Kumi, village elders, assistant chiefs all the way up to the sub-county and County Commissioners.

In the past we have seen these security apparatus working in a very coordinated manner in dealing with social and security issues such as illicit drinks where brews are tracked even in forests and dingy hideouts, exposed and destroyed.

Alongside this are the investigative and intelligence arms of government whose work is to unearth illegal activities and report to the security apparatus for action after conclusive investigations.

What is baffling with the Shakahola massacre is that there has been mounting concern about the goings-on in the church for years now, and it goes without saying that the local grassroots leaders had an inkling on the nefarious activities going on.

The assistant chiefs and chiefs are people who hail from that area. They are part and parcel of the community and all events, good or bad that occur in the area are well known to them.

As such, these leaders must shoulder the blame for closing their eyes as a monster was being nurtured to a level of committing a massacre of hapless followers.

One might argue that the cult was operating in secrecy. However, nothing which touches on security and threatens people’s lives should be handled as a secret.

In the first place security and investigative agents were not barred from accessing the forest land belonging to the evil pastor, in case they needed information on the activities going on there.

But, apparently, no one was bothered even as the rumours continued to gather pace that there were suspicious deaths occurring in the forest.

In fact, by now the chief and assistant chiefs from the area should have been sacked for sleeping on the job. In any case, if they couldn’t detect such monstrous acts within their area of jurisdiction, of what good are they?

Secondly, in a country like ours where corruption is the order of the day, one may have reason to suspect that dirty money could have changed hands to conceal any investigations into the cult activities.

Those in the know allege that the Pastor Mackenzie is a powerful and manipulative character who lived out of creating fear and despondency in people he came into contact with.

So did he use his manipulative powers to conceal investigative reports or it was just another case of incompetence and inertia within our security organs?

As the matter continues to gather steam and fresh revelations in the macabre incident continue to surface, it’s quite in order to say that our security and investigative arms of government were either napping as this disaster happened or were complicit in committing sins of commission and omission.

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EYEWITNESS AFRICA is a news website that spotlights human rights violations, transparency and accountability, democracy and good governance, gender equality, environmental degradation and conservation, climate change and biodiversity loss, deforestation and pollution, diminishing glaciers and mangrove forests, wildlife poaching and trafficking, illegal fishing, and general stories that highlight public interest issues that aim to spark reforms.

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