"Mnachopigana nacho hamkijui," says Mnachopigana. Kitawaramba na kitawaramba. Kitawaramba, Nimewaambia." These were the final words of Mr Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good Life International Church, as he departed the Malindi Law Courts last week, where he and 14 others were charged with leading a doomsday cult.
His ominous comments in Kiswahili are translated as follows: "You have no idea the magnitude of what you are fighting." You'll have to deal with the consequences soon."
The cult in Kilifi's Shakahola hamlet, where 75 remains have been excavated from numerous graves, had a reasonably peaceful existence until the catastrophe that claimed the lives of tens of its members. The cult is now responsible for 83 killings, including eight victims who were taken alive but died in hospital after a police raid revealed the horrors at the church.
Police rescued nine additional individuals inside Shakahola Forest yesterday, including a man suspected of being one of Mr Mackenzie's masterminds and leaders.
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Pastor Zablon Mwana wa Yesu of Butere, Kakamega County, identified himself. Mr Daniel Makori of Amabuko in Nyamira and Mr Lucas Owino of Gem in Siaya are also in police detention. They portrayed Mr Mackenzie as a scholar of the Bible.
He said he met Mackenzie in a church in Kawangware, Nairobi, and I knew he was the chosen one to lead them to Jesus." Who are you to question our beliefs? Do we not have the liberty to believe in whatever we want? zablon asked
However, considering the increasing number of bodies being excavated at various burial sites, authorities believe some church members may have begun murdering their colleagues as word of their actions spread.
The gang relocated from Malindi, where Mr Mackenzie ran his controversial church, to Shakahola, Nation learned yesterday.
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