The site where 235 bodies have already been excavated was visited by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee Inquiring the Shakahola Deaths on Saturday.
The scene was described as horrifying and an act of genocide by the committee, which was chaired by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana. The committee traveled to the exhumation site in the afternoon after spending the morning at the county commissioner’s office, Shakahola Command Center, and the county commissioner’s office. They were also brought to Galilee, where Mackenzie lived, and Jerusalem, where they were told about one of the saddest disasters in American history.
“We were able to visit the Galilea location today, where Mackenzie had his home, and we were able to see where he would administer punishment and judgment there,” he said.
After the tour and quick discussion with the security personnel leading the search and rescue effort and exhumation, Mungatana addressed the media and promised that the committee will make every effort to fully explain what had occurred to Kenyans. He claimed that while on the tour, they came across three body skeletons that had been rescued from the forest by security personnel engaged in search and rescue operations.
He continued, “We have faced the brutality of our people who perished here and the skeletons that were found here. We have faced the brutality of radicalization and the misuse of religion.
He claimed that in order to gather as much information as they could, they would visit different areas of the nation where Mackenzie is supposed to have had outposts of his Good News International Church.
He asserted that the committee welcomes any information from anyone, wherever they may be, that will assist in solving the puzzle of the radical pastor’s teachings in order to produce a conclusive report within the allotted 90 days.
The report will be presented to parliament for discussion so that it can be amended to include more information or to ratify the recommendations for taking action against individuals responsible for the mass killings, according to the committee chairman, who also stated that the process will be open to the public and transparent.
In the woodland, according to Mungatana, they were shown a mass grave containing 67 victims at Bethlehem and the headquarters, Galilee. He claimed that they have spoken with NGOs and religious leaders in order to learn more about their perspectives.
The senator declared that they will enact some sort of regulation to strike a balance between the right to free speech and the needs of the general populace and stop other Mackenzie types from being active.
“We want to appeal to our people to be patient with us, and we also appeal to those who have lost their loved ones — some have been reconnected, some have not — and we want them to be patient because even the DNA process will take time,” he said.
He urged Kenyans to give the populace some time to finish the process while assuring them that a similar massacre would never occur again.
“We are promising Kenyans this will not happen again,” he said. “For the remaining days we will execute this mandate and we will come up with a good report.”
The Chairman declared that they have reliable information that other forces are responsible for the cultic teachings and committed to investigate more. He declared that they would gather all the data they would get to be used in their report to create a legislative framework on how religious institutions will function, even though they were neither a judicial commission nor a court. The legislator claimed that although neighbors had complained to the police, swift action had not been done. He stated that everyone who will be listed in the senate report will be dealt with in accordance with the law and that they are waiting for the Department of Police dealing with foreign affairs to submit their report after concluding their investigation.
Shakila Abdalla, his vice chair and newly nominated senator, was with Mungatana, as were Migori Senator Eddy Oketch, Tabitha Mutinda, Faki Mohamed, William Cheptumo, Veronica Maina, Richard Onyonka, and Hamida Kibwana.
Kithure Kindiki, secretary of the interior cabinet, halted the exhumation. Kindiki emphasized on Saturday that only the exhumation of Shakahola Massacre victims and the search for their graves had been halted. The exercise was put on hold while logistical plans were made for the post-mortem analysis of the additional 123 remains found during phase 2 of the exhumation activity, according to the CS.
According to Kindiki, the post-mortem exercise’s second phase will start on May 24. The Malindi Sub-County Hospital will host the post-mortem examination.