The dangerous operations of notorious preacher Paul Mackenzie inside the enormous Shakahola Forest have been made public thanks to Interior Secretary Kithure Kindiki.
In her testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Shakahola, Kindiki described Mackenzie as a shrewd person who painstakingly hid his illicit activities.
Kindiki said that Mackenzie, who was stationed in Malindi, used complex strategies to avoid capture.
He didn’t use technology and carried out his phoney operations in cash, making it hard to track his financial dealings.
The preacher is charged with tricking members of his Good News International Church in Kilifi County into giving up their possessions and joining the organisation.
Furthermore, it is said that Mackenzie persuaded his followers to starve themselves in the hope that they would be rewarded by encountering Jesus.
Armed criminals directed by Mackenzie would kill believers who wished to quit the religion and stop the lethal starvation practice.
The CS informed the senators that there were a number of shallow burials present, some of which required physical searches by government personnel due to plant cover.
Over 241 remains have been exhumed as a consequence of the continuing search and rescue effort inside the 800-acre woodland, and additional victims may still be hidden or buried nearby.
Kindiki made plans to create roads within the Chakama Ranch to enable access and speed up the search as part of the operation.
The CS stressed that the operation would take a substantial amount of time to complete because of the scale of the work at hand.
91 people have been saved so far, and 19 of them have been reunited with their families, so there have been some good results.