How security agencies ignored warnings over Shakahola Forest leading to massacre

Security agencies ignored early warnings of illegal activity in Shakahola Forest, which resulted in the exhumation of over 429 bodies two years later.

Former Lango Baya Police Station Officer Commanding Station (OCS), Chief Inspector Hamara Hassan, revealed this in a Mombasa court on Thursday, August 15, 2024.

According to CI Hamara, a report of alleged illegal land invasion, subdivision, and sale was filed on August 4, 2021, but no follow-up actions were taken.

Chief Inspector Hamara testified that on the day of the report, two complainants, Alfred Mwazeze from Watamu and Daniel Kitsao, visited the police station to lodge a complaint. The two introduced themselves as official members of Chakama Ranch Phase III, located in the Shakahola area.

"The farm secretary, Mwazeze, voiced his complaint about the sale of the company's land and cited a piece of land they suspected had been sold three kilometres from Shakahola Junction towards Sala Gate," Hamara told the court.

Following the complaint, Chief Inspector Hamara advised the two men to record statements with Police Constable Ibrahim Ali to facilitate further investigation.

"The two told me they were going to meet with the whole committee and would call me back. They left, but did not call as promised," Hamara recounted during the examination-in-chief by state counsel Mohamed Yassir.

He further stated that the complainants informed him, upon subsequent contact, that the Lango Baya Assistant County Commissioner (ACC) was now handling the matter.

Prior to visiting the police station, the complainants had unsuccessfully sought assistance from the area chief regarding the sale of their property by unknown persons, according to the witness.

Despite receiving information that the Lango Baya ACC was handling the issue, the police did not take any further action. "We did not know what was happening in the forest. It is not true that we knew but did not dare to confront Paul Mackenzie and arrest him," Hamara asserted.

Chief Inspector Hamara, who was part of a team of prosecutors comprising Jami Yamina, Alex Gituma, Victor Simbi, Victor Owiti, Betty Rubia, and Hillary Isiaho, revealed that investigations had shown the land occupied by Mackenzie did not belong to him.

"The land known as Kwa Mackenzie belongs to Chakama Ranch. Mackenzie has no title to this land," he said.

Search team members are pictured next to bodies found in the Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County on June 3, 2024. (Photo: Farhiya Hussein/EV)

However, they could not charge Mackenzie with forcible occupation as the complainants did not disclose the identity of those who sold their land and to whom.

Hamara also admitted that Paul Mackenzie, the prime suspect, had reported to the same police station in November 2022 about a woman claiming on social media that he was transporting people into the forest and killing them.

"I wish to clarify that I was not at the police station. I was off duty from November 4 to 13, 2022. When I returned, I didn't know about the situation until April 1, 2023," Hamara said, adding that his deputy, Inspector Stanley Bet, had handled the matter while he was away.

According to Hamara, Mackenzie's report was delegated to Police Constable Elizabeth Muchai. "

Upon inquiry, I discovered that after Mackenzie filed the report, the crime officer referred him to Police Constable Simiyu, who advised him to report the matter to Sub County Criminal Investigation Officer (SCCIO) Malindi, where Sergeant Yator attended to him. The Lango Baya Police Station did not open a case file on the matter," he said.

Hamara, now attached to Kinango Sub-county Police Headquarters in Kwale, mentioned that Lango Baya Police Station was ill-equipped to handle Mackenzie’s case, which required cybercrime expertise.

The officer denied any knowledge of Mackenzie prior to his arrest in April 2023, when mass graves were discovered in the same forest.

“I first learnt of Mackenzie when a report of child mistreatment and parental neglect was made, and I met him for the first time when we went to arrest him,” he recounted.

The officer explained that he logged a report under OB/10/17/03/23 at around noon on March 17, 2023, prompting him to send two police officers to Shakahola for investigation.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie walks to the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa on January 18, 2024. (Photo: AFP)

The officers returned carrying a weak young boy who recounted his abandonment without food and mentioned the starvation deaths of his two siblings.

"They reported the incident after returning from the forest," Hamara said during cross-examination by Mackenzie’s advocate, Lawrence Obonyo.

According to Hamara, Mackenzie was arrested on March 22, 2023, for murder due to the starvation deaths of his followers. Following Mackenzie's arrest and release on bail, conflict erupted between Shakahola residents and Mackenzie’s men, leading to the arrest of eight individuals.

On April 13, 2023, police returned to Mackenzie’s farm and rescued 15 people, four of whom died before reaching Malindi Sub County General Hospital. "We found them very weak, as they had been starving for days," Hamara recounted.

Contradicting Hassan's testimony, a witness who testified earlier this week claimed that area leadership was aware of the situation in the forest but did nothing to prevent the deaths.

The minor witness identified Mackenzie and his men, describing their role in enforcing a deadly fast that aimed to ensure the death of all believers by June of last year.

Mackenzie and his associates have denied 238 manslaughter charges, asserting that the deaths in Shakahola are unrelated to their religious practices, which they claim are rooted in the Bible.