The government has declared controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie's Good News International Ministries an organized criminal group.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki said the declaration is in accordance with Section 22(1) of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act.

 "Where the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that a specified group is engaged in any organized criminal activity under section 3 of this Act, he may, on the advice of the Commissioner of Police, by notice, declare that specified group an organized criminal group for the purposes of this Act."

 "Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Minister under this section may apply to the High Court for redress within twenty-one days from the date of publishing the order, "Pat (2) reads.

The Shakahola Ministry has been held responsible for the death of over 400 persons, which occurred between January 2021 and September 2023.

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In the course of questioning Pastor Mackenize and 94 other accused parties in court, it was discovered that the severe decay of 360 bodies has hampered the processing of DNA from 429 bodies, making the autopsy process difficult, expensive, time-consuming, and delicate.

There are 238 counts against the suspects, including radicalization and terrorism.

However, they denied all the accusations.

After the prosecution requested to keep Mackenzie and his co-accused in custody until the end of their investigations, the two will stay in detention for now.