Second Kenyan pastor arrested over alleged ‘mass killings’: Minister

The head of a church in eastern Kenya has been arrested in relation to “mass killings” and 100 of his followers have been evacuated from church premises, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said on Thursday.

The arrest and evacuation were related to a separate organisation from the cult that has been under investigation in eastern Kenya in recent days after mass graves were found in the forest where it was based.

Father searches for wife and six children 

Meanwhile, Stephen Mwiti was too distraught to go identify the bodies of his wife and six children among the corpses of dozens of cult members recovered from Shakahola forest and brought to a mortuary in Kenya’s coastal town of Malindi on Wednesday.

“My children are gone. The children who have been rescued, I went and had a look and I did not see my children,” Mwiti said as he waved a photo of his wife and four of the children.

He has been carrying the fading, dog-eared photo in a plastic bag for the last six months or so as he searched for his young ones.

Mwiti said his wife took the children in 2021 to live among members of the Good News International Church, 89 of whom are known to have died. The Kenyan Red Cross says more than 300 people have been reported missing.
“That wife, even if they recover her body, I will not collect it,” Mwiti said. “These problems I am experiencing, she is the one who brought them to me.”

The leader of the cult, Paul Mackenzie has been in police custody since April 14, held alongside 14 other cult members.