The government will resume exhuming more bodies from Shakahola Forest on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
This comes even as the government continues to investigate controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie over cult-like activities.
Already, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki promised to work with religious leaders to curb religious extremism and radicalisation.
“The Government will support and work with religious organisations that nourish the souls of the people and add value to their lives through community-based projects such as hospitals and schools. While the Government respects the constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedom of worship and has no quarrel with the Church, it will not shy away from stopping religious leaders who are rogue and manipulating the word of God to mislead people through warped teachings, indoctrination and radicalisation,” Kindiki said.
So far, 110 bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest and a postmortem was conducted showing that most victims died of starvation.
The government on April 28, 2023, suspended the exhumation of bodies at Shakahola forest owing to bad weather.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki made the announcement after touring the area.
“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. Therefore we have suspended the exhumations because of the weather and as soon as it dries up a little bit we will resume,” Kindiki explained.
