How Makenzi's Shakahola cult robbed man entire family

Paul Makenzi.[FILE/Standard] A 60-year-old man on Friday, narrated how he lost 12 members of his family, including a General Service Unit officer and a teacher, to the Shakahola cult. Titus Gandi told the Tononoka Children's court that his wife, Easter Birya Masha, lured their two sons Harry and Isaack Ngala into Paul Makenzi's cult. Gandi told Principal Magistrate Nelly Chepchirchir that both his sons joined the sect with their wives and children, abandoning education, formal employment, and family responsibilities in the process. He said Isaack's wife, a public school teacher, resigned and relocated with him and their three children to Shakahola. "Makenzi's teachings turned productive citizens into dependants, abandoning their families to starvation," said Gandi. He revealed that Isaack withdrew his elder son from school, citing the sect's radical doctrine. "My first-born son Harry, his wife, and their five children all perished in the forest. My second son Isaack, a former GSU officer, resigned from his job after Makenzi's teachings convinced him that salaried work was evil," said Gandi. He was testifying against Makenzi and 37 co-accused who are facing charges of kidnapping, cruelty, torture, and violating the right to education. Authorities have linked Makenzi's Good News International church to a cult that led to the death of 488 people whose bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in Shakahola forest. The witness explained that his life had been ruined after losing his wife, two sons, their wives, and his grandchildren to Makenzi's radical doctrine. He said he almost lost his entire family to the cult. "Isaack, his wife, and two of their children also died in the forest. Only one child survived, and I am now raising him," said Gandi. Gandi described the boy as the apple of his eye and prayed for justice for himself and the grandson. Some of the bodies that were exhumed at the Shakahola fasting cult crime scene. [File, Standard] The witness said he had warned his wife against joining the church, which openly preached against education and formal employment. He said their marriage strained after she embraced Makenzi's teachings. Gandi recounted his last meal with he before she disappeared into Shakahola forest, never to return. He said the DNA analysis confirmed the identities of some of his family members, whose remains he managed to bury, with one grandson still unaccounted for. The elderly man said he first saw Makenzi in person during his wife's burial, though he had seen him before on social media. He also identified other cult members he knew, including Smart Mwakalama and Evans Sirya. Gandi urged the court to dispense justice swiftly, stating that his family had been wiped out by radical indoctrination. The case continues amid fears the cult killings are not over. Already, 32 bodies have been recovered at the Kwa Binzaro new cult, with children and women being the majority of victims. Dozens of women and children have died after a suspected doomsday cult ordered them to fast to death in order to go to heaven. Like the Shakahola cult, children were to die first, followed by women. Detectives say they were preparing for the end of the world under the instruction of a leader who told them that starvation was their ticket to heaven. At the five-acre homestead believed to be the epicentre of the cult, children's items have been recovered, including children's toys.

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