Paul Mackenzie cult probe: neighbours speak on pastor’s growing popularity since 2015

Migingo village in Malindi, Kilifi County; this is where the controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie is believed to have first set foot in Malindi, with his mission clear: to convert as many followers as possible.

He set his Good News International within this compound surrounded by a concrete wall. This is also where his family is believed to be residing.

Citizen TV made efforts to speak to them but we were turned away.

Neighbours who are mostly speaking in hush tones say Mackenzie settled here in 2015 before leaving last year.

“Hapa alihama kutoka mwaka jana kwa sababu ya hilo swala la watoto wa shule akanunua shamba kule Shakahola,” says Johnson Katana, a resident of Migingo.

When he left, according to the neighbours, he had converted many into his followers.

“Hao wafuasi wake walianza kwenda moja moja kumfuata…sio watoto tu waliokuwa wakifunga ata watoto ata hao majirani wetu waliomfuata ni kwa sababu na hilo swala la kufunga…majirani wengine walikosana na mabibi zao kwa sababu ya huyu mtumishi,” Katana adds.

The neighbours never heard of those who left until the horrors of the Shakahola graves surfaced last week.

“Tumesikita sana kwa sababu baadhi ya wale wamekufa ni watu tunawajua kabisa,” says Katana.

This comes as families of believers who are still missing continue to throng the Malindi police station and Shakahola forest with the hopes of sighting their loved ones.

The families, some coming from as far as Nyanza and Western regions have been here since the shocking news started unravelling.

Among them is James Mukala, a Mombasa resident and Henry Otieno from Nairobi.

“Nilikuja hapa jana kutafuta sister yangu na watoto wake wawili, nimeenda hadi mortuary,” Otieno says.

The families have been camping at the police station insisting that are not going to leave until they receive reports of their loved ones who disappeared more than 3 years ago to follow the misleading teachings of Paul Mackenzie.

Some say they have attempted to reach their loved ones through mobile phones only for them to receive disappointing responses.

“Niko na sister yangu na mtoto wake walipotea…leo nimejaribu kuongea na mpendwa wangu ako na sauti ndogo. Ananiambia atakuja nyumbani June,” Peter Mwaniki says.

The families have called on the government to put more emphasis on searching for those who are still hiding deep in the forest of Shakahola even as detectives continue to unravel more graves.

The number of bodies exhumed from the forest has since risen to 39, following the exhumation of eighteen bodies from 7 graves on Sunday, with detectives yet to dig up more than 50 graves and the number of those alive remaining unknown.