What You Need to Know:

Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, Leader of Kenyan ‘starvation cult’ Good News International Ministries, has been charged with the murders of 191 children by the High Court of Malindi, in the nation’s southeast. 

The leader of the church, which he founded in 2003, was arrested in April last year after 429 bodies were found in Shakahola Forest, with some bearing signs of suffocation and blunt force trauma.

Shortly after his arrest, Mackenzie began a hunger strike, also refusing water, stating he was ‘fasting and praying.’ 

Court documents alleged that Mackenzie and 29 accomplices encouraged his followers to prepare for the end of the world by starving in order to ‘meet god.’ The Court also claimed Mackenzie and his accomplices ‘willfully and intentionally’ denied food to children as young as six. 

Furthermore, Mackenzie will return to court in March to face charges of terrorism, manslaughter, and child cruelty. 

The Details:

Good News International’s website claims, “The mission of this ministry is to nurture the faithful holistically in all matters of Christian spirituality as we prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ through teaching and  evangelism.” It also claims the ministry’s TV channel, ‘End Times Messages’ seeks to “bring the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ which is free of deceit and man’s intellect.”

In 2017, Mackenzie faced charges of Radicalism and ‘extreme preaching.’ Again, in 2019 Mackenzie was released on bail pending trial over his alleged links to the discovery of two children bearing the signs of starvation and suffocation in Shakahola Forest.