May 23, 2023
By Moses Munoko
A DCI homicide detective marks a shallow grave believed to hold three bodies of suspected followers of Pastor Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Church at Shakahola Village, Kilifi, on April 19, 2023. Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group
Even horror movies have an end. But it’s like the worst of Shakahola is yet to manifest. We need to develop a hippo’s skin to absorb the impending shock. The security team recovering the bodies may mentally and psychologically be disturbed for good. Was it an act of the devil? Perhaps.
Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese religious leader, indoctrinated people into a cult to believe that the Apocalypse would happen in 1995.
Just like the Shakahola revulsion, before the government knew it, he’d launched a sarin gas attack on a subway train that killed 14. It’s then that investigations began, which revealed he’d also tried to secure nuclear weapons.
In Kenya, the Church enjoys immense support from the State. And masqueraders have, in the name of God, utilised the weak link to wreak havoc with the vulnerable masses by swapping reason with cultic fear and faith.
Attempts at instilling stringent regulation and measures is christened as anti-God. The Church played a crucial role in the 2022 General Election. That is why it’s reaping big.
Just as terrorists invoke religion to carry out their heinous acts, so have some clerics. It’s time to lift the veil. Unravel the rot and crucify the hypocrisy.
Kenya is a secular state with freedom of worship; it’s not a religious state. Hopefully, when the commission of inquiry takes shape, the devil will be exonerated. And those who slept on duty exposed. Perhaps, there was inaction on intelligence. And then we shall question rolling of heads by transfers only.
The Tower of Babel we’re seeing from government agencies speak of a legally short-optioned state. The ODPP is considering terrorism charges—of course a stillbirth. The government pathologist says all organs were intact after autopsy but the DCI reports some missing parts. A classic case of evidence-fishing expedition. And the murderer(s) may walk free.
Criminal law detests confusion. The Shakahola saga caught the government flatfooted. It must be held responsible for the deaths. Not the devil.
Mr Munoko is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. mosesmunoko@gmail.com.
https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/blogs/cults-the-devil-is-innocent-4243650
