Nairobi (WDN)- In one of the most horrifying cases of religious extremism in modern African history, a Kenyan court has sentenced self-proclaimed preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years in prison for orchestrating the deaths of 191 people, including 190 children, who were starved to death under the guise of religious salvation.

The ruling, delivered on Friday, November 6, 2026, by the High Court in Mombasa, brings a major development in the Shakahola forest massacre, which exposed how a religious movement built around apocalyptic predictions turned into a deadly system of indoctrination, coercion and mass killing.

Mackenzie, the founder of the Good News International Church, was convicted of directing his followers to starve themselves and their children to death in the belief that doing so would allow them to meet Jesus before the end of the world.

Justice Diana Kavedza sentenced Mackenzie to 100 years for murder through starvation and another 100 years for direct homicide, with the sentences running consecutively.

The court established that 183 victims died through starvation, while eight others were killed through direct acts of homicide. The victims included children who were deliberately deprived of food and subjected to conditions that left them with little chance of survival.

A calculated system of death

In delivering the sentence, Justice Kavedza placed primary criminal responsibility on Mackenzie, finding that he had relocated followers to the remote Shakahola area and established a system through which his religious instructions were enforced.

The court heard that the fasting programme was organised in stages, beginning with children, followed by women and younger men, before eventually targeting the remaining adult men.

The operation was not simply a matter of followers voluntarily observing religious fasting. According to the prosecution’s evidence, Mackenzie’s accomplices used threats, beatings, confinement and intimidation to prevent people from abandoning the practice.

Some children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched helplessly or participated in the arrangements. Others were reportedly locked inside makeshift structures used as fasting facilities.

The judge described the killings as calculated and rejected the defence argument that Mackenzie had not forced his followers to starve.

Twenty-eight co-accused were also convicted. Their sentences ranged from 10 to 160 years, including a 160-year sentence imposed on assistant pastor Smart Mwakalama.

The defendants had been found guilty in October following a lengthy trial supported by witness testimony, forensic evidence, medical examinations and digital recordings.

More than 400 bodies discovered

The Shakahola tragedy first shocked Kenya in April 2023, when police began uncovering mass graves in Shakahola Forest, in Kilifi County, near the coastal town of Malindi.

The investigation revealed a horrifying scale of death. More than 400 bodies were eventually recovered from the area, many from shallow graves and other concealed burial sites.

The 191 deaths covered by the latest murder trial represent only part of the suspected victims.

Authorities are continuing investigations into other deaths, including a separate case involving 52 people allegedly killed at Kwa Binzaro village. Mackenzie has denied the additional charges.

The scale of the tragedy has raised serious questions about how the preacher was able to operate for years despite having attracted the attention of Kenyan authorities.

Police had reportedly investigated his activities as early as 2017. His church was shut down in 2019, after which he relocated his followers to the remote Shakahola area.

The court proceedings have also exposed the vulnerability of children within extremist religious movements, particularly where education, healthcare and contact with the outside world are discouraged.

Mackenzie reportedly portrayed schools and hospitals as institutions that contradicted his religious teachings, further isolating followers from conventional social services and external intervention.

Families demand answers

For the families of the victims, the 200-year sentence represents a significant legal development but cannot undo the devastating human consequences.

Some parents lost several children, while others lost entire families.

One father, Suleiman Ziro, who lost six children and his wife to the cult, welcomed the sentencing but expressed continuing anguish over the failure to recover the remains of his loved ones.

His concern reflects the unresolved suffering of families whose relatives remain unidentified or missing.

Mackenzie’s own son, Dan Mackenzie, also spoke about escaping his father’s religious movement after rejecting its teachings. He said he had lost friends and younger siblings to the tragedy.

A wider failure of oversight

Beyond the convictions, the Shakahola massacre has become a major test of Kenya’s ability to regulate religious organizations without undermining constitutional freedom of worship.

The tragedy has intensified demands for stronger oversight of religious institutions, particularly those whose leaders exercise extraordinary control over followers and discourage access to education, healthcare and independent information.

Kenyan President William Ruto previously acknowledged the government’s failure to prevent the deaths, accepting responsibility for the inability of state institutions to intervene before the tragedy reached such proportions.

The court has also directed authorities to provide survivors with education, healthcare, counselling and economic support. Measures include assistance with identity documents, access to higher education and protection against the stigma associated with their experiences.

Mackenzie and his co-accused have been given an opportunity to appeal their convictions and sentences. His defence team has indicated its intention to challenge the ruling.

The Shakahola massacre is a devastating reminder of what can happen when religious authority becomes an instrument of absolute control, particularly when vulnerable people and children are isolated from the institutions meant to protect them.

For the 190 children whose lives ended in the forest, the tragedy was not an act of religious salvation but a catastrophic failure to protect the most vulnerable members of society.

WardheerNews