Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki Wednesday declared cult leader Paul Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministries an organized criminal group.
This means authorities can use any means to investigate and take action on any of the members of the church.
This is after the church was linked to the death of more than 429 people in Shakahola, Kilifi County.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 22 (1) of the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration declares Good News International Ministries to be an organized criminal group for the purposes of the Act,” said Kindiki in his notice.
Mackenzie is facing multiple charges over the issue.
For instance, he and 94 co-accused were charged before Shanzu Law Courts with terrorism-related charges.
They denied all the five counts they are charged with, which include engaging in organized criminal activity, radicalization and facilitating the Commission of a Terrorist Act, and being in possession of an article connected with an Offence under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2012.
It is alleged that on various dates between 2020 and 2023, the accused persons, who were members of the Good News International Ministries, an organized criminal group, engaged in organized criminal activities at Kwa Mackenzie area of Shakahola Forest, Chakama Location of Magarini Sub-County within Kilifi County, endangering lives and killing 429 members and followers.
Read: Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie, 94 Co-accused Deny Four Terrorism-related Charges in Shakahola Case
They are also accused of promoting and/or adopting an extreme belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence namely fasting to death by advancing religious change, which occurred between 2020 and 2023 at Shakahola Forest within Kilifi County.
The accused persons are also said to have facilitated the commission of a terrorist act by transporting the members and followers of Good News International Ministries between Shakahola Forest and Malindi Township within Kilifi County, thereby endangering their lives.
It is alleged that Mackenzie and two others, within the same period at Furunzi area in Malindi Sub-County within Kilifi County, were found knowingly in possession of CDs, DVDs, books and pamphlets for use in instigating the commission of a terrorist act, namely endangering the lives of the members and followers of the Good News International Ministries.
The prosecution team filed an affidavit in its opposition to bail/bond.
The hearing of the application to oppose bond/bail is scheduled for February 8 2024.
Mackenzie was detained in April last year after hundreds of bodies were found in mass graves.
Most showed signs of starvation, but some – children among them – may have been assaulted.
MacKenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor accused of leading a doomsday cult, has denied responsibility for the deaths.
Prosecutors have said they will charge him and 94 others with murder, manslaughter, terrorism and torture.
In a case that stunned not only Kenyans but people across the world, the bodies of 429 people, including children, were dug up from grave sites in Shakahola, a remote forest about two hours’ drive out of Malindi.
Mackenzie is alleged to have encouraged members of his Good News International Church to move there and prepare for the end of the world.
Mackenzie, who is in police custody, is being investigated for influencing his followers to starve to death in order to meet their maker.
Police also suspect that some of the victims did not starve to death and may have been killed and then buried on the property. He has denied wrongdoing, but has been refused bail. The followers say he told them to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus”
But Mackenzie has said the deaths could not be blamed on him as he closed his church in 2019.
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