Detained Cult Leader Pastor Paul Mackenzie Goes on Hunger Strike in Police Cells

Controversial Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has reportedly staged a hunger strike in the police cells, where he is currently being held.

Mackenzie has gone for over four days without eating any food, according to officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

He was arrested last week in connection with the deaths of his followers, who are said to have fast to death on instructions of the preacher.

Malindi Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Usui on Monday ordered the detention of Pastor Mackenzie for 14 days pending investigations into his alleged cult.

On Friday, forensic detectives exhumed the bodies of seven people believed to be Mackenzie’s followers who died after going for several days without food in an attempt to ‘meet God.’

The bodies, including those of two children, had been buried in shallow graves in Shakahola area of Malindi, Kilifi County and were only wrapped in pieces of cloth, according to police.

The bodies were retrieved from two of the 58 shallow graves identified by police in an 800-acre parcel of land in Shakahola that is believed to be owned by Pastor Mackenzie. The exhumation exercise entered the second day on Saturday.

Even though Mackenzie’s Good News International Church was shut down in 2019, the preacher has continued to attract the masses through his preaching of the ‘end times and fasting to go to heaven.’

Mackenzie, who is yet to be charged officially, is said to have named the Shakahola villages with names from the Bible, according to area residents. The place where he built his house is called ‘Galilee’.

The whole 800-acre parcel of land is referred to as the ‘Holy Land’ and has villages like Bethany, Galilee, Sidon, and others. Where the seven bodies were retrieved on Friday is known as ‘Sidon.’