Kenyan authorities began returning to families the bodies of victims of the
"
Shakahola forest massacre
"
on Tuesday , almost a year after the shock of the revelation of the macabre practices of an evangelical sect adept at fasting until death. dead.
A total of 429 bodies, including those of many children, have been exhumed since April 2023 in this vast
“bush”
area of the Kenyan coast, where self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie called on his followers to fast to death for
“ meet Jesus”
before the end of the world which he announced for August 2023.
On Tuesday, at least four remains were handed over to a family in the coastal town of Malindi, an AFP journalist noted.
“It’s a relief to finally have the bodies, but it’s also sad to see that they are just skeletons,”
William Ponda, 32, who lost his mother, his son, told AFP. brother, his sister-in-law and his nephew.
Dubbed
the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”
, the affair horrified Kenya, a predominantly Christian religious country in East Africa.
Autopsies revealed that the majority of victims died of starvation, but some were strangled, beaten or suffocated.
Some deaths occurred several years ago and some bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition.
A taxi driver before proclaiming himself a pastor, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has been in detention since April 14, the day after the discovery of the first victims in the Shakahola forest where the
“International Church of Good News”
that he created met.
in 2010. He was notably prosecuted for
“terrorism”
and
“assassination”
of 191 children, including three infants.
He also faces charges of
“manslaughter
, ”
“torture”
and
“cruelty”
of children.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges.
Long delays
So far, only 34 bodies have been identified.
“There remain more than 390 bodies to be identified.
At this rate, it will last another ten years
,” castigated Roseline Odede, president of the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR), an official but independent body, to the press in Malindi.
“The government must voluntarily deploy resources in this process so that we can allow families to grieve
,” she said.
The long delays can be explained in particular by a lack of reactive products and equipment.
The head of forensic operations, Johansen Oduor, also pointed out last week that many families have not come to claim the bodies, making it more difficult to obtain DNA samples.
Search operations for mass graves have been at a standstill for several months, but the toll could still rise.
At least 35 other potential mass graves have been identified and are due to be exhumed soon, according to Johansen Oduor.
Failures of justice and police
The revelation of the sect's practices placed the authorities under fire for not having prevented the actions of the pastor, who was nevertheless arrested several times for his extreme preaching.
In a report published in October, a senatorial commission pointed to
“failings”
of the justice and police, alerted in 2017 and 2019. In July, Minister of the Interior Kithure Kindiki estimated that
“the Shakahola massacre (
was) Kenya's
worst security breach in history , promising to
"press relentlessly for legal reforms to tame rogue preachers
. "
President William Ruto, himself a devout Protestant supported by evangelical circles during his election in August 2022, created a working group responsible for
“examining the legal and regulatory framework governing religious organizations”
.
But previous attempts to regulate religions have encountered strong opposition, particularly in the name of freedom of religion.
The government announced that the Shakahola forest would be transformed into a
“place of memory”
,
“so that Kenyans and the world do not forget what happened”
.