Witness narrates how Mackenzie distorted Bible verses to defend deadly Shakahola fasting cult

A witness has described how controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie twisted Bible scripture to justify a mass starvation ritual that left scores dead in Shakahola, Kilifi County.

During Tuesday’s court session, the witness testified that Mackenzie cited passages from the Book of Revelation and reinterpreted them as a countdown to the rapture, urging his followers to fast to “beat the clock.”

Appearing before Shanzu Law Courts Principal Magistrate Leah Juma, the witness recounted that Mackenzie frequently referenced Revelation chapter 13, verse 11, which speaks of a pregnant woman hiding in the wilderness for 1,260 days to escape a seven-headed dragon. According to the testimony, Mackenzie gave this passage a radical meaning that pushed his followers into deadly fasting.

He allegedly taught that the seven-headed dragon symbolised Satan and his agents, whom he called wamataifa (worldly powers). The pregnant woman, he claimed, represented his church and members — the wateule (chosen ones). The child, he said, symbolised their faith, while the wilderness referred to the remote Shakahola forest, where his followers relocated after he shut down his Furunzi church.

Prophetic countdown

The court heard that Mackenzie interpreted the 1,260 days as three and a half years — a prophetic countdown to the rapture. He instructed followers to begin fasting in 2020, when they moved to Shakahola, in preparation for what he claimed was the approaching end of the world.

Another preacher, identified only as George, reportedly supported Mackenzie’s apocalyptic teachings.

The hearing also revisited a 2023 court application in which Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jami Yamina argued that Mackenzie’s followers in police custody and at the Sajahanad Rescue Centre were not on hunger strike as claimed, but were fasting “in disguise to meet the deadline to heaven.”

Yamina told the court they had to be transferred to prison custody, where they were force-fed and treated to save their lives. He added that the latest witness testimony “appears to confirm that the followers were racing against the 1,260-day countdown.”

Pressure from his father

Another witness, identified as E.I., gave a personal account of pressure from his father, who told him that his peers were “already with God” while he was wasting time and risking eternal damnation in “babeli,” a place where Satan would allegedly celebrate his downfall.

E.I. further testified that Mackenzie resorted to threats, at one point vowing to “force people to heaven through blows and kicks” if they resisted fasting.

The radicalisation case against Mackenzie and 95 co-accused resumed on Monday with chilling testimony from four witnesses, including forensic experts and two minors under witness protection.

Chief Inspector Erastus Sawe, a forensic officer with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), presented video evidence of Mackenzie’s sermons.

The clips, compiled after months of review, allegedly show the Good News International (GNI) leader preaching against education, medical care, and government authority.

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Sawe described Mackenzie’s messages as “strong and convincing,” warning they could easily sway vulnerable people. In one sermon, Mackenzie declared: “Being saved is to leave the earthly systems and follow the only true leader, Jesus Christ.”

Deeply disturbed

The officer admitted that reviewing the footage “day and night” for nearly six months left him deeply disturbed. Speaking in Swahili, he told the court: “Ukiwa na imani fukufuku na uone haya, kwa hakika utaangamia,” meaning, “If you have a shallow faith and see this, surely you will perish.”

Senior Sergeant Livingstone Lihanda, a DCI forensic crime-scene investigator, also testified, presenting photographs from Shakahola forest. The images showed exhumations, autopsies, and DNA sample collections, alongside personal belongings such as Bibles, schoolbooks, and birth certificates.

Lihanda revealed that investigators uncovered shallow graves — some just two feet deep and five feet long — including one that contained six bodies buried side by side. He also documented Mackenzie’s well-kept home, where officers recovered a written meal plan and several motorbikes believed to have been used by his followers.

Emotional testimony

Two minors under the Witness Protection Agency delivered some of the most emotional testimony.

Protected Witness AB, a 10-year-old boy, told the court that children at the camp were forced to fast under Mackenzie’s orders, with the promise they would “go straight to heaven” if they died of starvation.

He recounted how his mother beat him for secretly eating after two days without food, then handed him to “Steve,” described as one of Mackenzie’s aides, who whipped him with a thorny stick. His toddler sibling was also forced to fast, surviving only on sips of water.

The boy recalled seeing three children wrapped in sheets and buried in a shallow grave. He eventually escaped but later learned that both his mother and youngest sibling had died in Shakahola.

Another protected witness, BB, a 16-year-old, testified that he joined the Good News International church in Nairobi in 2019. He said Mackenzie manipulated Bible verses to convince followers that education, healthcare, and government services were “the work of the devil.”

The case continues, with the prosecution team led by Jami Yamina, Antony Musyoka, J.V. Owiti, and Betty Rubia expected to present more witnesses in upcoming sessions.