CJ Koome Probing All Judges Who Handled Pastor Mackenzie's Cases

Chief Justice Martha Koome has announced that investigations have been launched against all members of the Judiciary who dealt with Pastor Paul Mackenzie's numerous cases in court.

Koome, who serves as the chairperson of the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC), revealed that the probe will involve checking records to determine whether or not there was misconduct on the part of Judicial officers who handled the matter.

"The Judicial Service Commission which is charged with handling disciplinary issues and the leadership of the Judiciary are examining the records to establish whether there was any misconduct on the part of Judicial Officers and staff who handled the matter.

"The Judiciary reaffirms its commitment to upholding the Constitution and the rule of law in the administration of justice," read part of the statement.

The Judiciary further offered deep sympathy to the families, relatives and friends of victims affected by the unravelling mass deaths, sufferings and injuries at Shakahola Village in Kilifi County.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of Good News International Ministries - Malindi was first arraigned in court on October 17, 2017, where he was charged with radicalisation, for promoting extreme beliefs, offering education in unregistered institutions, failing to take his children to compulsory primary and secondary education and failing to provide the children with education.

In 2019, he faced other charges at the Malindi Magistrate's Court. A few of his followers were also charged on various occasions with child neglect.

"The complaints against Pastor Mackenzie and his co-accused were also discussed by stakeholders in the justice chain led by the then Presiding Judge at the Malindi law Courts under the auspice of the Kilifi County Court Users Committee (CUC) in its Quarterly meeting of 15.11.2019.

"The CUC discussed the issue of radicalization of children by Pastor Mackenzie through his church and TV station. The issue was escalated to the National Government Implementation Committee and the Communications Authority, and the CUC was advised the matter had been forwarded to the Cabinet for discussion in the coming weeks," added the statement.

The TV station's licence was revoked by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), but no feedback was given on the proposal by the CUC to have the church de-registered or the decision by the Cabinet on the issue.

One of the cases saw Pastor Mackenzie and his two co-accused jointly charged with the offence of offering Basic Education in an unregistered institution contrary to Section 76(1) (2) and Section 92(a) of the Basic Education Act. However, he entered into a plea bargain with the Office of the Directorate of Prosecutions (ODPP) and the three were discharged by the trial court.

Another case saw him be charged with four counts of radicalisation (promoting an extremist belief system for the purposes of facilitating ideologically based to advance religious and social change), offering basic education in an unregistered institution contrary to Section 82 of the Basic Education Act, failing to take his/her child to compulsory primary and secondary education and failing to provide right to education of a child contrary to Section 7 of the Children Act.

In another case, Pastor Mackenzie was charged with three counts of incitement to disobedience of the law, being in possession and distributing films to the public which had not been examined and classified by Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) and operating a filming studio and producing films without valid filming licence from KFCB.

Most of the cases saw him released on a cash bail of up to Ksh1 million.

His most recent case saw the exhumation of 103 bodies buried on his vast 800 acres of land in the Shakahola forest.

He is believed to have coerced the deceased members to fast to meet 'Jesus' and allegedly told the believers that their time on earth had ended and they should surrender their possessions to meet the Messiah.

President William Ruto, Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki and DPP Noordin Haji preferred terrorism, radicalisation and aiding individuals to kill themselves on Pastor Mackenzie in the case that has shocked the whole world.