CS Murkomen in a spot as Kwa Binzaro cult casualties increase

The discovery of more bodies believed to be followers of an offshoot of the controversial pastor Paul Makenzi’s cult in Malindi has once again exposed flaws within the country’s criminal justice system.

Reports indicate that Makenzi allegedly commandeered the new  Kwa Binzaro cult from prison, further exposing weaknesses in the country's intelligence gathering and sharing within the security agencies.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen also faces scrutiny over his handling of intelligence failures, especially after warning in April about rising cult activities in the country.

Nine bodies beleived of the followers of the cult were retrieved from shallow mass graves at Malindi’s Kwa Binzaro village, about 2km from where over 400 followers of Makenzi perished in 2023, on Thursday and Friday.

Government Chief Pathologist Johansen Oduor says children and women died in the most brutal manner in the new Kwa Binzaro cult. Like in the Shakahola cult, Children were supposed to fast and die first, followed by women and men

It appears that Murkomen also ignored calls from locals to fill three administrative posts in the Chakama area, which covers Kwa Binzaro and Shakahola, that have been left vacant for over one and a half years.

Chamaka Deputy County Commissioner, along with the Shakahola and Bofu sub-chiefs, have been unfilled for an extended period, despite the assurance from former CS Prof. Kithure Kindiki in 2023 that they would be appointed.

"The absence of substantive officers for these positions has denied local government services, including security," said Kilifi County's Adu Ward MCA, Samson Zia, last month.

In 2023, the then interior CS Kithure Kindiki upgraded the Chakamakama location to a division and created two sub-locations to bolster security in light of the Shakahola massacre.

“When the CS made the announcement, we expected gazettement of the vacant positions, but it has never happened, and now we are faced with another cult death in this area due to lack of close monitoring,” said Zia.

Residents express their concerns that the government has failed to construct a police station in the Shakahola area, despite earlier promises to enhance security. They highlight that the nearest police station is located 50 kilometres away in Langobaya.

New evidence suggests Makenzi, with help from rescued Shakahola cult members, allegedly led Kwa Binzaro operations from his prison cell.

Independent bodies that probed the Shakahola cult concluded that the acts of omission and commission of security officers and National Administration Officers abetted and aided the massacre.

The Senate ad hoc committee and the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights, KNCHR, faulted the security team in Malindi for gross abdication of duty and negligence.

“They failed to be proactive in collecting and acting on intelligence to forestall the Shakahola massacre and unjustifiably failed to act on credible and actionable reports.

“Numerous reports had been filed at Lango Baya Police Station, Malindi Police Station, and also to the local National Government Administration officers from 2017,” said the KNCHR report.

KNCHR said the quarterly meeting of the Kilifi County Court User’s Committee (CUC) held on 15th November 2019, which raised the issue of the Shakahola cult but was ignored.

No senior police officers and national government administrators who were in office were disciplined over the Shakahola massacre. Most of them were transferred to other stations.

Inside the cells, it was also not clear if Murkomen’s order that the Shakahola suspects should be held in solitary cells was implemented. Detectives involved in the Kwa Binzaro cult indicate that Makenzi spoke with his followers in other cells in different prisons through a phone call.

Eleven people are linked to the latest cult and are under investigation for their alleged involvement in organised crime, radicalisation, aiding terrorism, and murder.

They are Jairus Otieno, his wife Lilian Akinyi, Kahonzi Katana, Loice Zawadi, Safari Nzai, Karisa Fondo, Gona Charo, Kahindi Kazungu, Thomas Mukonwe, James Kahindi, and Sharleen Temba. Ms Temba is reportedly Makenzi point person.