By Paschal Norbert
MALINDI, AUGUST 11, 2023 (CISA)- “I don’t believe that Mackenzie could have done all this alone. And whether it is just simple initial faith or there is criminality involved and other actors behind Mackenzie and so forth,” said Rt Rev. Willybard Kitogho Lagho, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Malindi and a board member of the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics (CICC).
In an interview with CISA in July 2023, Bishop Lagho said the Church in Kilifi was not silent about the intrigues of Pastor Paul Mackenzie, the alleged man behind the Shakahola Massacre that has claimed over 400 lives, adding that the interfaith council had alerted the authorities about the pastor and his unorthodox teachings since he was a well-known figure within the evangelical circle.
“In Malindi diocese, like most of the dioceses in the coastal region, we work through structures of interfaith. Now, these structures include the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics, which myself and Archbishop Martin Kivuva we are board members. As members of the CICC, we noticed this problem a long time and we reported the matter to the police, to the education authorities that here was somebody who was telling people not to go to school. And we know the many times that Mackenzie was taken to court and tried, it was the church and other faith leaders who were pushing this man to face the law,” said Bishop Lagho.
“So we did not need to speak in isolation because one, it was an issue cutting across our various denominations. It was an ecumenical issue because it was outside the immediate realm of the Catholic Church, but within the realm of Christianity. So as Christian leaders and as faith leaders, we spoke in one voice and told the government, this man is dangerous. But what surprises us is that despite the security knowing what was happening, nothing was done,” he reiterated.
Bishop Lagho, however, appealed to the Kenyan faithful to be vigilant of the mushrooming Churches and self-acclaimed faith leaders stating that “Mackenzie is not alone in this religious extremism.”
“We have witnessed people who wake up and become preachers overnight. Tomorrow, they are self-made bishops. Tomorrow, they are self-made archbishops. They are self-made cardinals. There is one who calls himself a pope or a prophet and so forth. So this abuse of religion has been with us Kenyans for quite some time. I think we have all been quiet,” he said.
Lagho in calling for self-regulation of faith organizations admitted that even though the Mackenzie saga has brought to fore the existence of religious extremist organizations, sects, cults, and similar outfits in Kenya that have occasioned death or serious harm to Kenyans, little has been done to effectively deal with religious extremism in the country.
“We have not done enough to be able to say this is abuse of religion. This is abuse of faith. So even as we focus on Mackenzie, let us not forget that the source from where Mackenzie came from is still generating more and more of Mackenzie’s type. And until such time that we really have self-regulation of faith organizations, we might still see more and more,” cautioned the bishop.
Owing to the vastness of the diocese of Malindi and Kilifi county as a whole, Bishop Lagho maintains that the Church cannot win the fight alone and thus, he is calling for support to enable his pastoral agents traverse the diocese and proclaim the true Gospel of Christ.
“We as a church are asking for support in order to enable our priests and sisters to reach the vast areas of our diocese. Left on our own means we can only do so much. And the rest of the space is an open field for faith leaders who want to take advantage,” he says.
He explains, “what I will be saying to Kenyans, especially our fellow Catholics from outside Malindi, let us take Mackenzie’s case as a wake-up call. That we probably have been living in our own comfort zones in the country and comparing, assuming that every diocese is equal to the other. But we are not. We are not equal in many ways. And to the extent that actually the vast area of this diocese, people have not even heard about Christianity.”
“If you go to some these schools we are talking about, for example… there is only 5% who have Christian names. Not necessarily because they are baptized, but because their parents are Christians, but the rest of 95% of those children are neither Christians nor Muslims. So they are still in their traditional religious beliefs. But for me that is an opportunity,” he adds.
As of August 3, the Shakahola starvation cult death toll rose to 427 after foetuses were discovered in two women who were pregnant. According to Chief Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor, “’We stumbled on two women who were pregnant today, so we had to separate the foetuses from them and we also did autopsies on the unborn babies.”
“Today, we have done 26 autopsies consisting of 14 adults and 10 children, while two were unable to determine the age and gender due to the level of decomposition. This has marked the end of the fourth phase of autopsies,’’ said Dr Oduor on August 2, 2023.
