More than ten people from Kilifi’s Shakahola and Msimba villages have suffered serious injuries after neighbors stormed and attacked them on Friday night, claiming to be followers of Pastor Paul Mackenzie’s controversial Good News International Church.
The state accuses Mackenzie of manipulating locals through distorted radical religious teachings and fear of the unknown in the pursuit of salvation, which resulted in the deaths of many.
According to Humphrey Nyongo, a former member of Pastor Mackenzie’s Good News International church, his colleagues were on their way to inquire about the whereabouts of their missing family members when they were attacked by the villagers.
“They had gone to look for their missing family members, but when they arrived in the village, the believers armed with machetes confronted them.” They also responded, resulting in a riot. “The situation in those villages is tense right now, and something needs to be done,” Mr. Nyongo said.
He added that the families were enraged that Mr. Mackenzie had been released on Sh10,000 cash bond and that Isaac Ngala and Ms. Emily Kaunga, the children’s parents, who are suspects in the mysterious deaths of two children blamed on the pastor, were yet to be tracked down and arrested.
“Police are yet to arrest the parents of the two children even as details on the exhumation of their bodies remain unknown,” said another villager who declined to be named. The villagers claimed that after his release, the pastor went into hiding.
According to investigations, it is in his house that Mr. Mackenzie has been shaping the beliefs of his followers, some of who are now being investigated for alleged horrific crimes — including starving and killing their children and later burying them in shallow graves.
