Kenya cult: How Mackenzie planned mass starvation of members
Kenyan security personnel on April 23, 2023 carry a starving cult victim from Shakahola Forest outside the coastal town of Malindi. PHOTO | YASUYOSHI CHIBA | AFP
Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie lived with hundreds of followers in makeshift homes of polythene sheeting and thatch in a remote forest camp that he divided into areas with biblical names like Jerusalem and Judea, relatives of his adherents say.
He told them the world as they knew it was going to end on April 15 and Satan would rule for 1,000 years, according to the relatives and a senior police investigator. He ordered them to starve themselves and their children to death so they could meet Jesus in heaven ahead of that date, they said.
