How Makenzi used phone to run Shakahola deadly cult

Controversial pastor Paul Makenzi and his lawyer Lawrence Obonyo after appearing before Justice Diana Mochache at the High Court in Mombasa, on August 13, 2025. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

The gospel that Paul Makenzi preached was about the end time.

According to him, it was not a futuristic event, it was here, and among the instructions that he got from God, he was to go into the jungle.

Just like the Biblical John the Baptist, Makenzi carried the message of Christ’s return to the wild where congregants followed him.

For major parts of 2019 to 2023 when he was arrested, Makenzi and his followers relied on mobile phones and the Internet to stay connected to the outside world.

Even though the Shakahola area within Chakama ranch has poor network coverage, phones were critical in luring his followers there.

The Standard has exclusively obtained these text and WhatsApp messages that paint a picture of how the cult operated and continued to win more followers.

Some of them served as a warning that the world was ending soon and contained carefully selected Bible verses to fit the narrative Makenzi peddled.

To push these messages, he was active in some instances, especially on WhatsApp since it is easy to share video content from other platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.

Some of the videos shared were about looking for places to hide in the end times, the preparation for it and the new world order.

Members of the WhatsApp group would also contribute by sending their own videos to which Makenzi would at times reply that he had watched them or that he would.

As the Covid-19 virus swept over the world and scientists were rushing to develop vaccines to fight it, Makenzi was busy cautioning his followers against it.

In one of the messages, Makenzi is joking with one of his followers about the hit song “Stella Wangu” by Freshley Mwamburi about his girlfriend who left for further studies in Japan only to return on May 17, 1992, with a child.

In another message, a frustrated Makenzi asks for legal steps that he can take against someone he said was allegedly spoiling his name.

“Ni hatua gani ya kisheria naweza chukulia mtu kama huyu ambaye ana niaribia jina?[What legal steps can I take against someone who has been spoiling my name].”

The advisor, identified as George Muiruri, advises him to file a report in person with the police and let them do their work.

Makenzi says that he knows the person in question saying she is the daughter of one of his former pastors and that she started the ‘insults’ after they had a disagreement with her father over shifting from Malindi.

In the end, Makenzi says that he will file the report at Lango Baya Police Station on the day he was due in court for a case.

After filling the report, he gets back to Muiruri saying he had been told to file the matter with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Malindi and let detectives investigate the case.

The two continue exchanging messages, mostly videos about end times and never talk about the case, at least in the messages seen by The Standard.

In another conversation between Makenzi and Muiruri, the two talk about Christianity.

Makenzi says that Jesus did not bring religion to the world, all religions have been started by human beings.

According to him, Jesus brought salvation which brings the forgiveness of sins and that all religions belong to Satan.

“Mimi najua si mkristo mbali mimi ni Muongofu au mteule ndani ya YESU [I know that I am not a Christian, but one who fears or a chosen one in Christ].”

Makenzi goes further to say that Christianity, Islam and Budhism are religions among others and human beings need to be saved from their sins by Jesus Christ, not religion.

“Wote wanaoshiriki DINI yeyote wamepotea (All who are practicing any religion are lost).”

On his part, Muiruri maintains that when Jesus was born, Antioch was still in existence and it is here that the Antioch residents named his disciples Christians.

Christians believe that the origin of their name is Antioch, which was changed after the ascending of Jesus Christ following his resurrection after he had been crucified.

Muiruri says that Jesus was not a Christian but he spread the gospel of repentance and redemption through salvation.

The preacher received many messages from different people.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, one of his followers, Shadrack Delytra asks Makenzi what he needs to do since churches had been closed as the country and other parts of the world were under a lockdown.

The preacher then tells him to remain in Christ, to which he says Amen.

The man texts Makenzi three days later asking for a Sh10,000 donation to bury his father but the preacher does not reply.

In another series of messages, a man only identified as George accuses Makenzi of taking advantage of the congregants.

The message trail picks up from a point where George asks the preacher why he should be humble.

Makenzi replies that it is better to be humble than to possess knowledge. George gets back saying that the preacher is practicing self-adoration yet people should only submit to Jesus Christ.

He accuses Makenzi of pride suggesting that the preacher asked his followers not to pray or read the Bible, further saying that was the making of a cult.

George says that since 2010 he had been warning the preacher not to entertain false teachers of God’s word because they would mislead him and eventually take him to hell.

He suggests that Makenzi had been telling his followers that George would repent and rejoin the church but he affirms that it was not going to happen since he now knows Jesus and cannot submit to Satan.

According to him, Makenzi was using scriptures for his own benefit and was allegedly getting involved romantically with his congregants.

He accuses Makenzi of selling church property during its closure and keeping the money to himself, and telling his followers not to farm yet Makenzi was rearing chicken.

George further accuses the preacher of murder, saying that it was easy for him to kill someone yet he could not interpret dreams.

In a reply, Makenzi says that George was getting all the things he was accusing him of from people and not from him directly.

“Think twice, George, before you say anything. Can I stop people from dying really?,” poses Makenzi.

Makenzi says that he could not believe that the accusations were coming from George, adding that there was no need for a back and forth between the two of them.

He asks for forgiveness for any move that he made that was contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Makenzi asks George to produce the owner of the church property that he allegedly sold so that he can pay him off.

He strongly refutes allegations by George that he had stored enough money to sustain him for 20 years, adding the claims were baseless.

Makenzi wonders why George was saying that he had been paid by false prophets to mislead people.

George gets back at him saying the day of judgement is nearing, with Makenzi saying that each one of them should wait for the day in their own way.

Makenzi asks George to give evidence that he had asked people not to farm, but the latter never replies.

In another exchange with a follower, Makenzi is asked to interpret a dream about him and John the Baptist sitting at the bedside of the follower.

In the dream, the sender says that Makenzi was asking John about the church that he was leading and, in turn, John was asking Makenzi about his own ministry, before they both leave the room.

They both board a bodaboda and Makenzi was holding a microphone and a speaker that he was using to mock christians for the uncertainties in the world and asking them to turn to Jesus for salvation.

Makenzi tells the follower that the dream was a call for repentance.

In another instance, Makenzi reacts happily to a video shared by one of his followers saying Jesus should be respected since some of the people who opposed his messages had repented and confessed the same to him.