Kenya.- The President of Kenya, William Ruto, vowed to crack down on “shady” religious movements, after police found 73 bodies of people suspected of belonging to a sect that urged its followers to fast to “know Jesus.” “.
The balance of deaths from hunger increased to 73, Police sources reported Monday, when more bodies continued to be discovered in mass graves in a forest near the coast.
“What we saw in (…) Sakhola is characteristic of terrorists,” declared the President of Kenya at a diploma ceremony for prison officials.
“Terrorists use religion to promote their heinous acts. People like Mackenzie use religion to do exactly the same thing.”
On April 14, authorities found the remains of four members of the Good News International Church, led by Makenzie Nthenge, who reportedly urged his followers to fast to “know Jesus.”
That day, another 11 people had been rescued and hospitalized. But the macabre finds continued in that forest, located near the coastal city of Malindi.
The police chief, Japhet Koome, who went to the scene on Monday, stated that the figure includes “the exhumed bodies and those who died on the way to the hospital,” he explained.
The Kenyan President assured that he asked the “responsible bodies to deal with the matter and get to the root and bottom of the activities of religions and of people who seek to use religion to promote a cloudy and unacceptable ideology.”
The policemen still hope to find more bodies in this forest where the members of the sect met. Several followers of that church are still hiding in the place, although 29 people have already been recovered, according to Koome.
mass killings
A woman was found bulging-eyed by authorities on Sunday and refused to eat, before being taken away in an ambulance.
The woman “absolutely refused first aid and clamped her mouth shut, refusing to eat and wanted to continue her fast until death,” said Hussein Khalid, a member of Haki Africa, an organization that alerted police to the church’s actions.
“We ask the national government to send troops to the field so that we can go inside (the forest) to help the victims who continue to fast until death,” he added.
The forest, more than 3 square kilometres, is cordoned off and has been declared a “crime scene”, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said on Twitter on Sunday.
“This is a big blow and a big shock to our country,” said Sebastian Muteti, child protection officer for Kilifi county. For him, it is about “mass killings”.
The macabre findings raise questions about the attitude of the authorities, who knew about the pastor’s activities since 2017.
Nthenge had already been arrested because he convinced many children not to go to school on the grounds that education was not recognized in the Bible. At the time, he was charged with “radicalization” and running an unregistered school.
The pastor was arrested again last month after two children died of starvation. But he posted bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings, about $740, and was released.
Nthenge turned himself in to the police and has been detained since 15 April. He will appear before a judge on May 2.
