Shakahola Massacre: Kindiki Suspends Exhuming Of Bodies, Transfers Police Bosses

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Friday, April 28, announced that the government suspended the exhumation of bodies at Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County.

The CS made the announcement after touring the area in which 11 bodies were exhumed, including five children raising the death toll to 110.

He intimated that the police had suspended the exhumation process owing to bad weather and advice from experts regarding the procedure.

Interior CS, Kithure Kindiki at the Shakahola mass graves on April 28, 2023. /FACEBOOK.KITHURE KINDIKI

"The experts have advised us that the procedure of doing the exhumations for purposes of judicial and court processes involves a lot of sensitivity. The ground must be dry to a certain level so that they are able to conduct the exhumations without interfering with the evidence or further damaging the bodies," he said.

"Therefore we have suspended the exhumations because of the weather and as soon as it dries up a little bit we will resume."

The CS however explained the reason behind members of the press and human rights bodies being barred from accessing the grounds and following the exhumation exercise.

"The process of exhuming the bodies is a court-ordered process; It is done based on certain ethical and professional standards, that's why we cannot allow everybody to take part in the exhumation, or to take images," he said.

"Such images are limited even by international law because they constitute outrageous crimes against human duty. These are the bodies of people's loved ones and kin and so there is a limit even in terms of what security agents can do."

At the same time, the CS announced a massive reshuffle of all police bosses in Kilifi County, noting that the changes would enable the government to conduct thorough investigations into the mass graves at Shakahola Forest.

“The government has decided that effective today, we will transfer all station, division, sub-county, county heads and commanders of all agencies within Kilifi County. We will replace them with their colleagues from elsewhere so that we can show the public that what we are doing is for the good of the country and for the good of justice," said Kindiki.

Kindiki further warned that the government would take administrative action against government officials who failed to take action over the matter.

He however assured that the transfers were not meant to implicate anyone with the crimes but to ensure that the operation is carried out successfully.

"We are not implicating anybody but we are saying that if you were the OCS or if you are the commander or a person who ought to have either received a report or you may have received a report and then you failed to act, then you cannot be part of the team that is conducting the investigations," Kindiki added.

Further, Kindiki cautioned religious leaders who were ridiculing the government for its operation in the forest as he declared that the crackdown on suspicious religious activity would continue.

Pastor Ezekiel Odero was arrested on Thursday, April 27 in Mombasa on suspicion of being controversial Pastor Paul Mackenzie's accomplice in the Shakahola massacre, with Mackenzie being treated as the main suspect of the massacre. He was arraigned in court in Shanzu on Friday morning, April 28, with police requesting the court to detain him for 30 days.

Earlier, detectives investigating the massacre revealed that they had credible evidence that some people who died at Pastor Ezekiel's church were buried in the piece of land belonging to Mackenzie.