Azimio Faults Ruto, Judiciary For Not Taming Pastor Paul Mackenzie

The Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance coalition on Monday, April 24 blamed President William Ruto and the Judiciary for failing to curb the actions of Pastor Paul Mackenzie, linked to the deaths of several of his followers whose bodies were discovered buried at Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County.

Minority Leader in the National Assembly Opiyo Wandayi while addressing the media accused the Kenya Kwanza government of failing to turn towards security agencies to prevent the Shakahola massacre that has since grabbed international headlines.

According to Wandayi, Kenyans deserve to know the truth regarding the failure of the security system, including protection within communities to prevent further occurrences.

"What transpired in Shakahola is the work of the devil. This is a colossal failure of the State.

"It is an unforgivable failure of security intelligence that, in theory, extends from Nairobi all the way to the Shakahola and every village in Kenya, ending with the chiefs, assistant chiefs, village elders and Nyumba Kumi heads. This system failed and Kenyans deserve to know why," the statement read in part.

The Minority leader added that the massacre was a reminder for Kenya to undertake a review of its criminal justice system as the existing one has failed Kenyans.

Wandayi accused the criminal justice and security systems of functioning in their own interests instead of working to serve the people of Kenya from all walks of life.

"These mass deaths could have been avoided if our criminal justice system worked. This tragedy had been brewing for years but the criminal justice system has been too weak, too archaic and too compromised to prevent it.

"The criminal justice and security systems are too archaic, too self-important and too greedy to stand up for and protect the poor Kenyans. Because the victims were poor villagers, nobody cared and everyone who should have cared looked the other way," Wandayi added.

Wandayi, on behalf of the Azimio coalition, is now calling for a commission of inquiry to be formed to probe the saga and establish what went wrong.

"We must know who did or should have done what. We must audit the criminal justice system and its interactions with the main suspect and members of this cult.

"We must audit the members of the National Government Administration offices and how their inaction could have led to this pain and shame," Wandayi urged.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome in a separate media address revealed that 11 more bodies were exhumed from the Paul Mackenzie land in Kilifi, bringing the total number of exhumed bodies to 58, from the 47 confirmed on Sunday, April 23.

The IG at the same time noted that the police have rescued 29 people from the cult, adding that a team of experts from the National Police Service (NPS) including forensic investigators, homicide detectives, general duty officers and government pathologists are on the ground conducting an investigation and rescue efforts.

President William Ruto had earlier termed the actions of Pastor Mackenzie as an act of terrorism, adding that the pastor was ordering Kenyans to undertake activities that are against the confines of the Constitution of Kenya.

He, therefore, ordered security agencies, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to carry out investigations on pastors misusing their roles in religion to commit heinous acts and for Pastor Mackenzie to be prosecuted and jailed.

People like Pastor Mackenzie and all other terrorists and criminals do not belong to any religion, they belong to jail- President Ruto#ViralVideos pic.twitter.com/JD6KjqbBud — Viral Tea Ke (@ViralTeaKe) April 24, 2023