Court of Appeal judge Justice Jesse Lesiit will lead a commission of inquiry into the Shakahola massacre where more than 100 bodies have been recovered in a cult practice.
President William Ruto gazetted the commission of inquiry into the Shakahola Tragedy saying there were mass deaths, cruelty, maiming, and other inhumane and degrading acts perpetrated on members and other persons who were linked to the Good News International Church.
The commission of inquiry shall prepare and submit a report and its recommendations to the President within six months from May 4, 2023.
He said the scale of the death toll and the depravity of the actions committed against our fellow citizens has shocked the consciousness of the nation and that the Shakahola Tragedy has brought to the fore the issue of the existence of religious extremist organizations, sects, cults, and other similar outfits in Kenya that have occasioned death or serious harm to Kenyans.
Ruto said the unprecedented nature of crimes committed and the complexities of evidence gathering in such circumstances necessitate the establishment of a framework to document the circumstances of the tragedy and to probe into the matter.
The other commissioners will be Justice (Rtd) Mary Muhanji Kasango, Eric Gumbo, Bishop Catherine Mutua, Dr. Jonathan Lodompui, Dr Frank Njenga, Wanyama Musiambu, and Albert Musasia while joint secretaries will be Oliver Kipchumba Karori, Rachel Maina.
The lead counsel will be Kioko Kilukumi and will be assisted by Vivian Janet Nyambeki and Bahati Mwamuye.
The mandate of the Commission of Inquiry shall be to inquire into the matter of the deaths, torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment of members and other persons linked to the Good News International Church in Kilifi County within
Kenya and establish the circumstances under which the deaths, torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment occurred.
It will also inquire into the legal, institutional, administrative, security, and intelligence lapses that may have contributed to the occurrence of the Shakahola Tragedy.
“Identify, based on the evidence laid before the Commission, the persons and organizations who bear the greatest responsibility for the Shakahola Tragedy, and recommend specific actions that should be taken against them including admonition, regulatory actions, reparations, or recommendation for criminal investigation.”
The team will recommend legal, administrative, or other forms of accountability action against any public official whose actions or omissions are established to have willfully or negligently contributed to the occurrence of the Shakahola Tragedy.
It will inquire into the factors that lead to the rise of that particular religious extremist institution; as well as the factors that give rise to such religious extremist institutions, cults, occultist groups, and other formations that foster negative religion-based activities generally.
Further, it will recommend legal, administrative, institutional, and regulatory reforms aimed at preventing the occurrence of future situations of deaths or gross violations of the rights and welfare of persons by religious extremist institutions, cults or occultist groups, and other formations that foster negative religion-based activities.
The Lesiit team will receive views from members of the Public, receive oral or written statements from any person with relevant information, and may use official reports of previous investigations, use any investigation report by any institution or organization.
This follows the discovery of more than 100 bodies so far from the forest buried in shallow graves.
Exhumations will resume on 15 newly identified graves.
The victims were members of the Good News International Church, founded by pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge.
They were allegedly buried after starving to death and out of strangulation ‘to find Jesus‘.
Ruto said he will hold extensive discussions with spiritual leaders from across the country to develop a legal framework within which religious centers will operate.
Ruto said the framework will help in taming individuals who seek personal gain in the name of religion.
“I will hold consultations with our religious leaders to have a taskforce so that we can weed out the characters who want to abuse religion to run businesses and things that are anti-religion,” he said.
“We want to provide a framework agreed upon with our religious leaders that will provide for self-regulation so that our church, religion, and spiritual leaders can have a mechanism where they can point out to government those who want to abuse religion for other purposes.
“Dozens more bodies are believed to be buried in shallow graves therein.
Some 49 people have been rescued from starvation.
Mackenzie, who is in police custody, is being investigated for influencing his followers to starve to death in order to meet their maker.
He insists that he shut down his church in 2019.
The followers say he told them to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus“.
