The leader of a Christian cult in Kenya is in custody, as the exhumation of bodies found in mass graves continues. More than 100 have been discovered so far, with more than half children and many of the others women.
The graves, in a forest in eastern Kenya, are thought to be of followers of a cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves. They lived on an 800-acre farm in huts with palm-thatched roofs scattered among the trees and foliage. The Kenyan Red Cross said more than 200 people have been reported missing.
The head of the Good News International Church, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, was arrested on 14 April following a tip-off about graves containing the bodies of his followers. The police report that other cult members are in custody. They have also found 39 emaciated survivors.
On 25 April, the country’s Catholic bishops called for tighter regulations covering religious groups. “It is very unfortunate that we are witnessing a worrying reality in the country where so-called prophets and cultic leaders have mastered the art of exploiting gullible Kenyans in the name of religion,” the bishops said.
They asked how the cult could have been “allowed to perpetuate its dangerous doctrine for such a long time, leading to the loss of so many lives with the state security machinery completely unaware”.
Kenyan President William Ruto, an evangelical Christian, pledged to crack down on “unacceptable” religious movements in the country.
Ruto likened rogue pastors to terrorists. "Terrorists use religion to advance their heinous acts and people like Mr Mackenzie are using religion to do exactly the same thing," he said last week.
The president added that, "I have instructed the agencies responsible to take up the matter and to get to the root cause and to the bottom of the activities of people who want to use religion to advance a weird, unacceptable ideology."
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