Deadly fast: How Shakahola victims signed suicide agreement with Makenzi

Exhumed bodies at the Shakahola fasting cult crime scene. [File, Standard]

The investigating officer in the  Shakahola massacre told the court that controversial preacher Paul Makenzi and 192 others had a suicide pact by agreeing to fast to death.

Chief Inspector Raphael Wanjohi told Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku the decision by the accused persons was in the pretext of meeting Jesus.

Those starved to death were christened ‘wateule’ (chosen ones) and their burials were referred to as 'harusi' (wedding).

Other coded terms were ‘Mataifa’ for the outsiders, ‘Kunyakuliwa’, to rapture; and ‘Kanisa Jagwani’, to mean Shakahola.

Wanjohi, the last prosecution witness, said Makenzi instructed his followers to hasten their deaths through starvation to meet Jesus before his purported December 2023 arrival on earth.

The investigating officer was testifying in a matter where Makenzi and 191 others are charged with 238 counts of manslaughter. It is said that over 420 people lost their lives in Shakahola.

Some of the controversial Pastor Paul Makenzi followers after their arrival at Shanzu Court. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Chief Inspector Wanjohi told the court that the suspects had a mutual agreement and shared intention, both individually and collectively, for a suicide pact.

He further told the court that they had a common purpose to commit acts of manslaughter by overseeing the deaths of their children through enforced fasting.

"They had a specific intent to fast to death to meet Jesus and possessed knowledge of committing an unlawful act, as evidenced by the way graves were concealed and one of the accused persons, to be precise, the 94th accused, bore the greatest responsibility for the crime of manslaughter,” the Chief Inspector told Chief Magistrate Ithuku.

He further told the court that those who resisted the pact fled the settlement, according to his investigations, highlighting the extreme indoctrination and coercion imposed by Mackenzi over his followers.

Kenya Red Cross team helps one of the survivors of the deadly Shakahola fast after she was rescued from the forest. [File, Standard]

The group had settled several kilometres deep inside the dense Shakahola forest, strategically away from authorities.

The settlement’s remoteness was striking, with Wanjohi revealing that it was 14 kilometres from schools, 35 kilometres from Lango Baya Police Station, and 32 kilometres from the nearest chief’s camp, hindering detection.

Inside the deep forest, away from the eyes of authority, Mackenzi and his close associates imposed his doomsday ideology on hundreds he had lured through indoctrination.

Call data analysis revealed systematic coordination between Makenzi and his security team.

The homicide investigator said these communications were used to monitor activities within the expansive Shakahola Forest while enforced fasting was underway.

On the first day of exhumation operations, approximately 25 kilometres inside the forest, Wanjohi and his team uncovered 65 graves, including 14 containing multiple bodies.

The same day, 17 bodies were exhumed and meticulously documented before being transferred to Malindi Subcounty Hospital for preservation.

Each body was assigned a unique identifier, placed in labelled body bags, and transported to the subcounty hospital mortuary.

The mass graves, containing several bodies of male and female adults and minors, were shallow, with some bodies wrapped in bed sheets or lesos tied with knots before being buried, the court also heard.

Wanjohi told the court some bodies were transferred from one grave to another, likely to avoid detection.

Fast-growing crops were planted on mass graves, many flattened to conceal evidence.

Several months after the exhumation operations, the homicide detective and his team joined pathologists to conduct post-mortems in four phases on 429 bodies to establish the causes of death.

Starvation was the leading cause of death, followed by injuries, while some deaths remained undetermined due to decomposition.

He told the court that DNA testing helped confirm identities and link victims to relatives.

Investigators highlighted that only two burial permits had been obtained, far below legal requirements, reflecting systematic lawlessness.

Children and adults were often buried together, with graves flattened or concealed by crops.

Investigators said these practices demonstrated deliberate attempts to obscure evidence of the crimes.

Wanjohi explained that followers abandoned jobs, sold property, withdrew children from schools, and destroyed identity documents before relocating to Shakahola.

This secrecy reinforced control and prevented outsiders from understanding internal operations.

Searches at Makenzie’s premises recovered DVDs, religious books, files, and registers containing radical end-times teachings.

These materials illustrated the ideological framework guiding followers’ fatal compliance.

Arrests continued during police operations, with suspects intercepted while fleeing Shakahola Forest or travelling in Malindi.

A total of 62 suspects were arraigned before Shanzu Law Courts, with others presented under miscellaneous applications and custodial orders.

Between June 6 and 10, 2023, suspects staged hunger strikes in custody.

Six were hospitalised, and one suspect died.

Charges of attempted suicide were later withdrawn, and the accused were subsequently charged with 283 counts of manslaughter, among others.

Investigators relied on mapping, forensic evidence, DNA testing, and witness statements to establish the scale of atrocities.