As the ongoing saga of controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie of the harrowing Shakahola starvation cult unfolds, details are coming out on how the radical preacher subjected young learners and their parents against education.
Some of the rescued victims exhibited hatred towards the education system and anything associated with the government.
Linda Ikanye 19, one of the victims from Kakamega County said she joined the cult after finishing Form Four where she attained a D- (minus0.
She said she started following pastor Mackenzie’s preaching on TV while working in Nairobi and decided to follow the cult.
Narrating her journey from her Malindi Sub County hospital bed where she is recuperating after being rescued on the brink of death deep in the horror fields of Shakahola, Linda explains how she destroyed her documents and embarked on “a journey of faith.”
“The preacher talked of how bad government systems are, how education and health systems were evil and why it is important to fast and strengthen our spirits,” she said: “For once I regretted going to school and so the sense in the preacher’s teaching.”
Linda ended up in Shakahola where she says she would wake up in the morning and cultivate a farm she acquired from Mackenzie.
“I then started fasting and praying for 19 days until people came and took us to hospital,” said Linda while expressing regrets. She said she will not go back to the cult.
“I just want to go back home and start life afresh,” the weak Linda said from her Hospital bed
Other victims at the facility have literally been looking for chances to escape the facility and possibly return to the cult.
Despite looking weak and emaciated, some of the victims exhibit stubbornness and are prepared to continue with their mission of continue fasting “to meet Jesus”
An elderly woman, who was ferried to the hospital from Shakahola horror fields on Tuesday, became a menace at the female ward as she resisted every attempt to assist her.
Even though her body was frail and seemingly dehydrated, she used the energy left to tell off the attendants and counselors who approached her while warning them that God’s wrath will befall them for crossing her path.
Although she would later fall asleep, her exuberance in resisting medication defines the extreme levels of the Cult’s teachings.
Then there was Shamimu Salim 27, a resident of Muyeye within Malindi Constituency who reportedly left home in company of her husband Rogers Zablon and their three children to join Mackenzie’s cult in Shakahola.
According to her elder sister Fatma Salim, Shamimu and her family first torched their personal documents including clinic cards, birth certificates, ID cards, academic certificates and phones before leaving for Shakahola.
“They burned every document that is linked with the government. So as we speak they have no documentation that linked them with the government,” Fatma said in an interview adding that on arrival at Shakahola, Shamimu reportedly changed her name to Kadzo Vidzo perhaps to conceal her identity and obliterate every trace.
Fatma says all her sister’s children are among those who perished in the harrowing episode.
“We knew that the children had died through our neighbor who is a former member of the cult but after realizing that the cult was taking them in the wrong direction, she left but she has been going to Shakahola to greet them and back. However he was ejected by Mackenzie himself later on after reports emerged that children were being starved to death in Pastor Mackenzie’s cult, she went back and rescued her relatives and spilled the beans. It was at this point when we discovered that the children had died,” explained Fatma, adding that after the search, they were led to the grave where the bodies of the children were buried.
According to Fatma when her sister arrived at the hospital on Monday morning and regained consciousness, she identified herself as a resident of Muyeye. They were then called to identify her and realised that she had changed her name to Kadzo.
“My sister accused us of denying her a clear chance to meet with Jesus. She said she had already met with Angels and they were preparing to take her in but they stopped after she was rescued and said she was still energetic. She said she had started enjoying the party but after they fed her the party stopped. She said the party will continue once they stop feeding her, meaning she is ready to go back to the cult once she recovers,” Fatma said in an interview at the hospital.
While many continue to question how educated people of sound mind can fall for indoctrination to extreme levels, Coast based Psychologist Dr Mwinga Chokwe says indoctrination or radicalization depends on individual’s personality.
“There are those whose personality can be easily influenced or affected by other people. Such individuals can easily subscribe to extreme ideologies. This is something that happens world over. There was a time in Guyana where Rev Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of an American cult in the Guyanese jungle, ordered his followers to murder a US congressman and several journalists, then commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced fruit punch,” said Dr Chokwe adding this is a matter of personality.
Subscribing to extreme cult ideologies, Dr Chokwe said can be catapulted further where there is stress, depression, and other social problems.
By Hilton Mwabili
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