Girl recounts surviving on water for 38 days in Shakahola forest

Detectives exhume bodies during the phase five exhumation inside the Shakahola forest, Kilifi county [Marion Kithi, Standard]

A 17-year-old girl has narrated how she was picked by her mother from a school in Eldoret and taken to Mombasa to a church linked to controversial pastor Paul Makenzi.

She had been living with her father when her mother picked her up.

The girl, GH, was testifying before Mombasa Law Courts in a case where Makenzi and 94 others are charged with manslaughter.

“I lived with my father in Eldoret but was taken by my mother from school on a Friday and brought to Mombasa. I dropped out in Class Four after my mother said it was a sin to go to school," said GH.

The girl who appeared before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku, said her mother, who is among the 95 accused persons, was a staunch follower of Makenzi who forced children to fast.

GH told court that they used to attend Good News International (GNI) church in Mlango Saba, Mombasa, in 2019 and the beginning of 2020.

“In December 2019, during the last seminar at Mtwapa, the pastor (Makenzi) asked the followers to quit their jobs to be the anointed ones. He instructed the worshipers to conduct door-to-door preaching,” she said.

She identified Makenzi as the leader of the church who preached about fasting. GH also identified Makenzi’s wife, men who enforced the fast, and women whose children died during the period.

GH said Makenzi coerced his followers to fast to death while his wife and children were eating well.

“I attended the last crusade where Makenzi declared the start of the fasting period. He said Jesus had sent him to pass the message to us. It was a congregation of over 300,000 people,” said GH.

She said as other children died of starvation in Shakahola forest the controversial preacher and his children continued to enjoy sumptuous meals.

“I used to hide from my mother to drink water. I drank water only for 38 days," she said.

GH told the court that all the followers were to die by June 2023.

She said Makenzi and other preachers of GNI ministries instructed the parents that the children were to start the fast, followed by youths, women, and men, and then the controversial preacher would be the last one.

GH narrated that Makenzi said after all the children had died, his children would be the ones to close the chapter, followed by his wife, who was to be the last to die after all women starved to death.

The controversial preacher would wind the fasting after all men died.

“However, Makenzi, his children, and his wife continued eating as followers fasted to death in what they called one-way express to meet Jesus,” said GH.

The girl testified that her mother sold everything before they moved to Shakahola where she bought two acres of land at Sh1500. In Shakahola, they were ordered not to wear makeup or seek medical services.

“An acre was sold at Sh1,000, but the price increased to Sh1,500. We took a mattress and utensils to Shakahola after selling all other items,” said GH.

The worshipers were ferried by a lorry to Shakahola and settled in villages named Galilaya, Samaria, Sikari, Tiro, Sidoni, Judea, Bethlehem Bethania, and Emau.

GH said that they would plant maize on their land in Shakahola forest.

In 2023, Makenzi asked them to start fasting.

“We used to meet on Saturdays under the trees in Judea and there was no permanent structure.  Steve led the morning service and Makenzi would preach later,” said GH.