The Mombasa High Court has sentenced Shakahola cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people, including 190 children, marking a pivotal moment in one of Kenya’s deadliest cases of religious extremism.
Justice Diana Kavedza handed Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International (GNI) Church, two consecutive 100-year prison terms. The first covers 183 counts of murder by starvation, while the second relates to eight counts of murder involving children killed through strangulation, suffocation or blunt force trauma between January 2021 and September 2023.
Mackenzie and 28 co-accused were convicted following a trial that exposed an organised system of religious indoctrination. The court found that Mackenzie persuaded followers to relocate to the remote Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County and fast to death on the promise that doing so would enable them to meet Jesus.
Justice Kavedza ruled that Mackenzie bore primary criminal responsibility as the overall leader who directed followers into the wilderness and ordered them to fast. However, she declined to impose the death penalty, reasoning that execution could reinforce the convicts’ belief that they were fulfilling their goal of meeting Jesus, thereby undermining its deterrent effect.
Instead, she opted for long-term imprisonment to ensure accountability while allowing opportunities for reform and further investigations into the identities of victims.
- Judge: Mackenzie led Shakahola followers to starve to death
- Mackenzie, 28 followers found guilty of 191 Shakahola murders
- Shakahola: How Paul Mackenzie runs deadly cult from prison
The court also highlighted the central roles played by Mackenzie’s key lieutenants, whose former civilian occupations contrasted sharply with their activities within the settlement.
Smart Deri Mwakalama, Mackenzie’s deputy and a former computer programming student and hotel receptionist, was sentenced to 160 years in prison. He served as GNI secretary and second-in-command, overseeing logistics, transporting followers, apprehending escapees and supervising mass burials.
Steven Muye Sanga, the settlement’s head of security and a former Kenya Power maintenance worker, was also sentenced to 160 years. He enforced mandatory fasting, assaulted members who resisted and supervised the digging of mass graves.
Both men were among 12 appointed village elders who enforced discipline through violence and isolation. Sentences for the other co-convicts ranged from 10 to 160 years. Enos Amanya Ngala and Pastor Lucas Owino Ogolla were each sentenced to 10 years. Ngala, who pleaded guilty under a plea-bargaining agreement, will also serve three years’ probation.
Beyond punishing the perpetrators, the court ordered the State to provide comprehensive support to survivors, including medical care, counselling, financial assistance, education and job training.
Mackenzie has denied forcing his followers to starve to death. His defence attorney, Lawrence Obonyo, announced plans to appeal, describing the punishment as an inhumane life sentence. The appeal is scheduled to be mentioned on November 27.
Authorities uncovered the tragedy in 2023, exhuming more than 400 bodies from shallow graves in Shakahola. The 191 murder convictions account for only part of the total deaths, with Mackenzie facing additional pending charges as international calls grow for stricter oversight of unregulated religious groups.
– By John Murunga
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