Kilifi, Kenya — A Kenyan court has found pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge guilty of orchestrating a mass starvation cult that led to the deaths of at least 191 individuals, including 190 children, between January 2021 and September 2023. Mackenzie, along with 28 co-defendants, faced grave charges that included murder and other criminal acts directly linked to a controversial fasting regime enforced by the sect he led.
The judgment, delivered after an eight-hour session by Justice Diana Kavedza, rejected claims made by the defense that participants, particularly children, had chosen to fast on their own accord. Instead, Justice Kavedza emphasized that the ill-fated decision to withhold food was coerced, especially among the vulnerable young ones unable to understand the implications of their actions. She stated that the children, aged six to ten, lacked the capacity to give informed consent, underscoring the significance of their inability to decide meaningfully on the fasting rituals imposed upon them.
Prosecutors painted a harrowing picture of life within the cult, depicting a methodical process where children were starved first, followed by women and then men, controlled by guards who prevented any escape attempts. Eyewitness accounts detailed how parents were instructed to deny their children food, leading to a grim sequence of starvation deaths that authorities have described as deliberate acts rather than unfortunate side effects of worship.
The court noted that some victims bore marks of violence in addition to starvation. Many were found with their hands and feet bound, while others had sustained injuries consistent with asphyxiation and blunt force trauma. In total, authorities have exhumed 429 bodies from the site, and hundreds more are still unaccounted for.
Mackenzie’s rise to power began after he traded a life as a taxi driver in Nairobi for a position of influence in the religious community. In 2003, he and his wife founded the Good News International Ministries in Malindi. His teachings, which became increasingly extreme, discouraged education and medical treatment, branding such practices as evils of Western influence. Followers abandoned conventional lives, even burning identification documents and selling properties to support the church.
In 2019, authorities shuttered the church and a television station he operated, which led Mackenzie to relocate to the Shakahola forest, about 43 miles from Malindi. Ignoring the crackdown, he continued to gather followers in the forest, where many lived in makeshift mud huts and were subjected to his radical doctrines.
An anonymous tip-off in early 2023 revealed the extent of the atrocities committed within the sect, leading police to the mass graves and the discovery of emaciated survivors. These individuals recalled being instructed to starve themselves until they could “meet Jesus.” Following these revelations, Mackenzie was arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder in January 2024.
Community member Stephen Mwiti lost all six of his children in the forest and expressed a sense of justice after the court’s verdict. Although he could only recover one of his children’s remains, he stated outside the courtroom, “I’m a happy man, that all persons have been convicted.”
As further legal proceedings unfold, an appeal from the defense is expected, with Mackenzie maintaining that he did not force anyone to participate in the starvation practices. Additional charges against him and other cult leaders related to terrorism and the denial of education for children remain pending. Sentencing is set for early November, following pre-sentence assessments.