Kenyan cult leader told followers to starve themselves ahead of world's end on April 15 (89 dead, 300 missing) - A Genocide or what?
Hello Deep Dives platform! It's a beautiful day to share with you news from Kenya and in the rising death of the Kenyan cult. Good morning!
Families and friends of members of the Good News International Church in Kenya are seeking for the whereabout of their family members and loved ones but the truth is that most of their loved ones have died as a result of their ignorance of the last days.
The death toll from the starvation act has rise to 89 and a report from a reliable source said that about 300 people are still missing, which means they might have starved to death alongside those who have been exhumed from the mass burial site.
The leader of a Kenyan cult told his followers the world would end on April 15 and instructed them to starve themselves to be the first to go to heaven, a relative of cult members and hospital staff told Reuters on Wednesday.
Eighty-nine followers of the Good News International Church, which was based in the Shakahola forest in eastern Kenya, are known to have died. Authorities have recovered 81 bodies from shallow graves since Friday, while eight cult members were found alive but later died.
This could be described as the worst death toll in a cult related death in recent times. Apart from the 81 bodies exhumed from the burial site and the right cult members who died after they were rescued from the Shakahola forest, about 300 people are still missing, according to reports from local authorities.
The only way I can describe this act in this word genocide. The Kenyan government should charge cult leader Paul Mackenzie for genocide for deceiving a great number of people to untimely death. The police have reported that the cult leader Paul Mackenzie have refused to eat anything since he was apprehended on April 14.
"He told them to starve themselves ahead of the world’s end on April 15, saying he would be that last one and that he would lock the doors," said Stephen Mwiti, whose wife and six children joined the cult and are feared dead.
Mwiti said he had heard this from a former cult member who had been expelled for drinking water during the mass fast.
Hospital staff in the coastal town of Malindi, where corpses and survivors are being taken, said they had heard the same account from survivors.
"He (Mackenzie) had an elaborate plan of killing children, youths and then adults, telling them he would be the last one to starve himself to death," said one of the hospital staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome told media on Monday that Mackenzie had been arrested and arraigned in court on March 23, then released on bail for a surety of 10,000 shillings ($75).
This what is happening in Africa where people with money that can afford bail will pay and escape with their crimes and nothing will happen to them thereafter.
Killing children, youths and other vulnerable in the society amounts to crime against humanity and Paul Mackenzie should face the full wrath of the law for his genocidal tendencies and actualities. But my fear is that the said leader of the cult might want to die as well after knowing that he might be charged for his crimes.
This is a call to the Kenyan government and other governments of states to look into similar cults operating in their various nations and deal with them according to the law to deter others from carrying out such great harm on fellow humans.
References:-
- https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/with-aching-hearts-kenyans-seek-relatives-among-starvation-cult-victims-2023-04-26/
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/26/kenya-cult-investigation-widens-as-death-toll-reaches-90
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kenya-starvation-cult-death-toll-rises-child-graves-shakahola-forest-massacre/