The government will resume exhuming bodies still lying in mass graves in Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County next week.
While addressing journalists in Embu County after inspecting the works at Embu Moi Stadium which is set to host this year’s Mandaraka Day celebrations, Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki said the experts managing the Shakahola Forest have revealed that there are more bodies in mass graves.
Kindiki said the government is in the last stages of completing the postmortem exercise for the bodies exhumed from the mass graves in Shakahola Forest before embarking on exhuming more bodies.
Terming the incident as heartbreaking, Kindiki stated that the suspects of the Shakahola massacre will be met with charges of genocide and terrorism in court.
“This incident, sad as it is, is going to be the last one. We will do what it takes to ensure we don’t get such kind of harm anymore,” Kindiki assured.
The CS stated that more arrests will be made in regard to the Shakahola massacre.
“We intend to make more arrests in coming days and we will punish by prosecuting them with worst forms of crime that they have done in our law books,” he said.
Shakahola inquiry
President William Ruto on Friday, May 5, 2023, appointed a Commission of Inquiry which will put together evidential and circumstantial material to assist the Director of Public Prosecution in netting more people for accountability.
Kindiki also lauded the President for putting up a multisectoral task force that will help in regulating religions and places of worship.
Kindiki stated that the task force will come up with policies and regulations that will be used to curb the misuse of people in the name of freedom of worship.
“I know there will be resistance but it doesn’t matter who is opposed to fighting against rogue preachers, government must swallow the bullet, heads must roll,” said Kindiki.
He said measures that were put up by the government to curb terrorism between 2014 and 2016 have worked and that he was convinced that the task force will come up with good frameworks and regulations.
