Good News International Ministries

The **Good News International Ministries** (**GNIM**) is a new religious movement. It was based in Shakahola, Kilifi County, Kenya. Other names for the movement include **Good News International Church** and **Servant P. N. Mackenzie Ministries**. The movement was commonly called the **Shakahola cult**. While most of the group's followers have been Kenyans, some were originally from Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria.

The group itself has been described as a cult and a doomsday cult. In 2023, over 400 members starved themselves to death in a mass suicide. The group's leader, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, had ordered them to starve themselves to death in order to "meet Jesus." MacKenzie did not join his followers in the mass starvation.

On 31st January 2024, the Kenyan government declared GNIM an “organized criminal group” under the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act.

## Early history 
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie founded GNIM with his first wife in 2003.

In 2017, Mackenzie and his wife faced several charges relating to the church. Mackenzie had called students' education "ungodly" and urged them to abandon it. He was criticized for this. In addition, he radicalized and denied medical care to the children afterwards. Several children died as a result. 

In 2017, government authorities rescued 93 children from the group. After another arrest in 2019, Mackenzie left Malindi and headed to the Shakahola forest, where the mass starvation occurred in 2023.

## Mass starvation 
### Initial complaint 
In the early weeks of April 2023, a man contacted the police after his wife and daughter left Nairobi to join Mackenzie's remote commune in Kilifi County and did not return. When police entered the community to investigate, they discovered very thin people and shallow graves. 

Fifteen members of the group were rescued by police; they stated that they had been ordered to starve themselves to death to "meet Jesus". The 15 followers were in poor condition, and four died before they reached a hospital. 

### Mass graves 
Over the next three weeks, police searched the  commune. They found more shallow graves and additional survivors who were starving to death. 

Most of the first bodies recovered from the graves were children. Police believed that one of the graves contained the bodies of five members of the same family – three children and their parents. One of the graves had up to six people inside it. Another grave had twelve children in it. Some of the bodies were not buried.  

Authorities also discovered other emaciated individuals, including one who had been buried alive for three days and was later taken to a hospital for treatment. Local authorities began requesting assistance from other jurisdictions to help with efforts at the commune. Authorities believed that an unknown number of missing people were still hiding in the forest on the commune and evading authorities while continuing to fast. Authorities reported that members of the commune were actively trying to hinder their efforts to find survivors. 

According to testimonies to police, Mackenzie told his followers "the fast would count only if they gathered together, and offered them his farm as a place to fast. They were not allowed to mix with anyone from the 'outside' world if they wanted to go to heaven. 

On 26 May, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said that Mackenzie hired criminals armed with crude weapons to kill followers who changed their minds about fasting and wanted to leave, as well as those who took too long to die.

### Victim estimates 
As more and more mass graves were found, the confirmed death toll of the mass suicide increased over time. However, sources agree that more than 400 people were killed. 

By 15 June 2023, 95 people had been rescued from the cult.

As of 2 August 2023, the total number of reported deaths was 427, and at least 613 were missing.

On September 18, 2023, *The Nation* reported that a total of 429 bodies had been exhumed from Shakahola Forest. The report said:The latest data indicates that 214 [people] died from starvation, 39 from asphyxia, 14 from head injury ... 115 [causes of death] remain [unidentified], and others [died] from other causes." On 28 September 2023, *The Standard* reported that "A multi-agency team…has exhumed more than 450 bodies suspected to be followers of Pastor Paul Makenzie’s church."

### Continued search & arrests 
On 24 April, search teams had to stop digging for bodies until autopsies were completed on the first 90 bodies that were found because the Malindi Sub-County Hospital's morgue was running out of space to store the bodies. "Mackenzie brainwashed his converts using William Branham's End of Days Theology, and convinced them that starvation could hasten their escape from this life to be with Jesus," detectives from the homicide unit said.

Mackenzie, his third wife Rhoda Mumbua Maweu, and 16 other church members were arrested by authorities and were being held in police custody as of 7 May 2023. Mackenzie was denied bail on 10 May 2023. As of that day, 133 deaths had been reported. Among those were eight people who were rescued, but died later. Most deaths were of children, with women being the next largest group, according to Kindiki. This claim was later proven false. As of 8 May, autopsies performed on 112 of the exhumed bodies ruled out the possibility of organ harvesting. 

On 10 May 2023, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki firmly denied that any organs were missing. Kindiki called the accusation "politicization of the [investigation] into the massacre," and advised the public to "treat it [allegedly missing body parts] as rumours. People who have facts are those on the ground not those in offices." 

## Criminal proceedings 
### Attempted suicide charges 
On 12 June 2023, 65 victims were charged with attempted suicide. Suicide is a misdemeanor in Kenya and can be punished with up to two years in prison. 

According to the Citizen Digital news service, "The prosecution made an application to have them remanded in prison because the rescue centre can no longer hold them. They are also set to undergo a mental and medical assessment and be forced to eat in prison." 

Roseline Odede, chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, criticized the attempted suicide charges. She said that  "Charging the survivors with attempted suicide is inappropriate and will retraumatize the survivors at a time when they most desperately require empathy, intense psychosocial assistance, rehabilitation, and community support." 

### Mackenzie's wife released 
On 3 July, the Shanzu Magistrate Court released Mackenzie's wife, Rhoda Maweu, on a personal bond of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (KSh), worth USD $711. She also provided a surety bond of KSh 300,000 (USD $2,131). In his ruling, Shanzu Senior Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda said the state had failed to prove why Maweu should continue being held with the other accused persons. She had been in custody for 62 days. The court also ruled Mackenzie and the 16 co-accused to remain in custody for another 30 days.

### Charges 
In a January 2024 court hearing, Magistrate Shikanda pointed out that Mackenzie had been in custody for 117 days, one of the longest detentions without charge in Kenyan history.

The court allowed the detention for Mackenzie and several alleged accomplices to be prolonged for another 14 days. However, the court warned, if Mackenzie had not been charged by that time he could be released.  

On 18 January 2024, Mackenzie and thirty others were charged with the murders of 191 children who were among the deceased. They appeared at the High Court for arraignment but did not enter pleas. Judge Magure Thanda ordered that all of the defendants should undergo psychological evaluations by February 6 before they could plead. Mackenzie was ruled fit for trial and pleaded not guilty.

In May 2024, before the trial started, the court ordered the prosecutors to reduce the number of charges from 191 to 12 in order to avoid delays and protect due process.

## Second suspected Malindi cult 
A second pastor, also based in Malindi, was arrested a few days after the Mackenzie murder-suicides were discovered. Authorities said Ezekiel Odero, pastor of New Life Prayer Centre and Church in Mavueni, Kilifi County, would soon face criminal charges relating to the mass killing of his own followers. 

Over 103 followers were evacuated from the church premises and will be expected to give statements. As of 27 April police had not yet confirmed whether the two groups are linked.

## Teachings 
### The end times 
Most of the group's teachings are about the "end times", and Mackenzie taught that end-time doomsday warnings are very important. One media report alleged that he predicted that the world would end on 15 April 2023. 

GNIM are followers of the End-Time Message of William Branham, an informal global network of churches that emerged from Oneness Pentecostalism.  Investigators uncovered booklets of Branham's teachings at the commune which were pictured in a news broadcast. Branham's teachings radicalized the group, leading to their deaths, according to homicide detectives working on the case.

### Anti-Western message 
Mackenzie's message was also anti-Western. He said that "evils of western life" included healthcare, education, food, sports, music, and "the uselessness of life". In a song titled "The Antichrist", he accused the Catholic Church, the United States, and the United Nations of being tools of Satan.

## References