Five school-age children were rescued from a home in Furunzi village, Malindi, after authorities found that they had not been enrolled in school.
A multi-agency team visited the home of 76-year-old Kangwele Mackenzie, the mother of incarcerated pastor Paul Mackenzie, on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.
The team, led by DCI Director of Homicide Martin Nyiguto, found five children aged between six and 16 years who were not attending school.
The children were identified as four boys and girls, including nine-year-old Olive Wangunyi Kamba.
Police said the children appeared well nourished despite reports that they had been subjected to starvation.
Investigations established that the children had not been enrolled in school because they lacked birth certificates, which authorities said had not been obtained by their father, Paul Mackenzie, who is currently in custody.
The five children were rescued and taken to God Our Father Gede Child Rescue Home pending further action.
The Malindi Children’s Department has been tasked with facilitating the children’s acquisition of the necessary documentation and ensuring they are enrolled in school.
Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter.
Survivors say children were supposed to be the first to starve themselves, according to a macabre order drawn up by Mackenzie. Then the unmarried, women, men, and last of all, church leaders.
Mackenzie set up his Good News International Church in 2003, but said he had closed it in 2019.
He encouraged his followers to move to Shakahola forest and prepare for the end of the world to “meet Jesus”.
Mackenzie preached that formal education was satanic and used to extort money.
In 2017 and again in 2018, he was arrested for encouraging children not to go to school as he claimed education was “not recognised in the Bible”.
The authorities have faced criticism after the discovery of the mass grave, with accusations that the deaths could have been prevented had there been tougher regulations.
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