Kenya Pastor Paul Mackenzie Faces Trial Over Shakahola Forest Starvation Deaths

Mackenzie’s son, Dan Paul Mackenzie, stated he worked as a cameraman for the church. He recalled that children sat at the back while adults occupied the middle rows, singing worship songs throughout the morning.

The pastor delivered fiery sermons starting at noon, which often included rituals described as “casting out demons.”

The main church closed in 2019, after which Paul Mackenzie relocated to the Shakahola forest, urging his followers to join him there.

Peter Shukrani, 23, said his mother moved to Shakahola with him at that time. Having attended Mackenzie’s church since the age of eight, Shukrani regarded the pastor as a “spiritual father” and insisted he would “never say a bad word about him.”

While living in the forest, Shukrani fell ill and his condition worsened because medication was prohibited.

“My mother would discard all the medicine I was supposed to take because she believed only God could heal me,” Shukrani said.

The settlement consisted of mud huts scattered across the vast forest. “We lived a quiet, normal life, fasting for several days then eating a small meal,” Shukrani explained.

By March 2023, when local herders discovered the first remains, hundreds of people had perished. “We would carry someone out of the forest, but they were so frail they would die in our arms,” recalled Salim Karisa, one of the gravediggers.

Shukrani was among those rescued from the forest in March 2023.

He had been ill and bedridden for weeks prior to his rescue, but his health deteriorated further because his mother disposed of the medication he needed.

“My mother believed Pastor Mackenzie’s doctrine that medicine was evil,” Shukrani said.

“I would have died if I hadn’t been rescued from Shakahola forest.”

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