By [Sola Adeniji], M10news – August 21, 2025
Kenyan authorities have exhumed the first bodies from 27 newly discovered shallow graves in Kilifi County, in what is feared to be a continuation of the Shakahola Forest cult deaths that shocked the country in 2023.
The graves were uncovered in Chakama Ranch, a remote part of Shakahola Forest where hundreds of followers of preacher Paul Mackenzie’s Good News International Church died after allegedly being told to starve themselves to “meet Jesus.”
Police, forensic pathologists and mortuary staff worked through Friday as the forest was once again turned into a crime scene. Body bags were carried out one by one, many of them containing the remains of children.
State pathologist Dr Richard Njoroge confirmed that six graves were opened during the first day of the operation.
Five bodies were recovered along with ten sets of scattered body parts found on the surface.
“Today we managed to exhume six,” Dr Njoroge told reporters. “Of the six graves, we found five bodies, and then also around that area we found ten different scattered body parts, in different places on the surface.”
Investigators believe the remains belong to followers of Mackenzie, who is already in custody facing charges of terrorism, murder and child torture over the earlier deaths in Shakahola.
In 2023, more than 400 bodies were discovered in mass graves in the same forest in one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies. At least 62,000 people have since died in Gaza’s war, but Shakahola remains Kenya’s most devastating domestic atrocity in recent years.
So far, 11 new suspects have been arrested in connection with the latest graves. Police say they will be presented in court on Friday as investigations continue.
Authorities are still struggling to identify the hundreds of victims from the previous exhumations. Dr Njoroge said more than 400 bodies remain unclaimed, despite efforts to return them to families.
“We had 453 at the closure of that exercise,” he explained. “I think we released around 33 or 34 last time. So from there, 419 remain.”
Families with missing relatives have been urged to come forward and submit DNA samples. Police say this is the only way to confirm the identities of the victims and bring closure to the grieving.
The new discovery has renewed questions about how Mackenzie and his followers were able to operate undetected for so long in the remote forest. Authorities say his church encouraged starvation and other extreme practices under the guise of religious devotion.
Kenya has been grappling with a rise in unregulated religious groups. Parliament introduced preliminary bills last year aimed at tightening control of churches, but the reforms have stalled after resistance from powerful religious leaders.
Rights groups say the government must act quickly to prevent another tragedy of the same scale.
The Shakahola deaths remain one of the darkest chapters in Kenya’s modern history, and the latest graves suggest the full extent of the cult’s deadly influence is still being uncovered.
