On Friday, a government-backed human rights watchdog in Kenya claimed that officials disregarded "credible reports" that could have saved the lives of over 400 people believed to be members of a doomsday cult.
The large expanse of bushland known as Shakahola Forest, located inland from the town of Malindi on the Indian Ocean, is where the piles of human remains were found last April.
The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) criticized security personnel in Malindi for their "gross abdication of duty and negligence."
"They not only failed to be proactive in collecting and acting on intelligence to forestall the Shakahola massacre but also unjustifiably failed to act on credible and action reports," KNCHR chairperson Roseline Odede said.
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Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a self-described pastor, is accused of encouraging his followers to starve to death so they could "meet Jesus."
Although starvation seems to be the primary cause of death, government-conducted autopsies reveal that some victims, including children, were beaten, strangled, or suffocated.
According to government records, between April and October of last year, 429 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves; 67 adults and 25 children were rescued.
KNCHR said the radicalization by Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, had been featured in a court committee meeting in November 2019 but had been ignored.
It also stated that a former Mackenzie supporter had "desperately" attempted to raise the alarm but was ignored.
"Instead of investigating the veracity of the issues raised, the lady was intimidated after being accused of making baseless accusations," said Odede.
"The commission regrets that no known sanctions were taken against those officers who abdicated their duty to protect hundreds of persons including children who are either missing, dead or deeply traumatised," stated the KNCHR.
Since turning himself into the police in April, Mackenzie has been detained while the investigations are ongoing.
Since then, he has faced accusations of terrorism, manslaughter, murder, and child abuse.
