Controversial cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his allies will be prosecuted locally using the International Crimes Act 2008 and the Rome Statute, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure said Tuesday.
Prof. Kindiki said investigations had revealed that the crimes committed in Shakahola met the threshold of crimes against humanity, which he said would be prosecuted for the first time by Kenyan judicial officers.
“For the first time in our country, we are going to have a prosecution of international crimes by our local judicial institutions,” he said, adding, “Therefore, we are giving effect to a number of our laws that have not been tested locally before.”
The CS, who was accompanied by Internal Security Principal Secretary Dr. Raymond Omollo, the Director of Criminal Investigations Mohammed Amin and other senior ministry officials, said the government would operationalize the International Crimes Act 2008 that criminalizes genocide, crimes against humanity and extermination among others.
“Our investigative agencies have assured us that they have a proper case for finding culpable the main suspect (Mackenzie) and all his collaborators for serious crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination, murder and all other crimes that are on the table and are being processed in terms of linking the evidence they have with the elements of the various crimes,” he said.
Prof Kindiki, who launched phase three of the exhumation of bodies of the Shakahola tragedy and the opening of security roads within the security operation area, said the government would also be implementing the Rome Statue on the International Criminal Code Articles Six and Seven, which he said was part of the Kenya law.
“We shall be implementing locally the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Code Articles Six and Seven on genocide and crimes against humanity because that treaty is part of the laws of our country by virtue of Article Two paragraph five of the Constitution that says that every international treaty or convention to which Kenya is a party is part of our national law,” he said.
He said the that State would also use laws that have already been used in the past including the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and that it was a just a matter of time before Mackenzie and his collaborators meet their destiny in Kenyan courts.
We have enough evidence to pin him and his collaborators to the most egregious and most horrible crimes against the human race,” he said adding, “What has happened here is not a small matter, but a grave outrage on humanity not just in Kenya but all over the world.”
The CS also announced that the 800-acre piece of land believed to belong to Mr. Mackenzie would no longer be used for agricultural or ranching purposes, but will instead be converted into a national monument in remembrance of the atrocities meted on humanity, so that such a tragedy does not recur in the country.
He however said Mr. Mackenzie extended his outrageous activities beyond his 800 acres of land to about 37,000 acres of the Chakama Ranch, adding that the scene of crime (the 800 acres) would be taken over by the Government and converted into a national memorial site.
“For that reason, the scene of crime where this most horrendous work has been carried out can never be reverted to normal and ordinary human activity. Once the scene of crime is clear of investigations, and subject to any direction that may be given by the Judiciary, the scene of crime will be taken over as a national memorial,” Prof. Kindiki said.
He said the government, in consultation with members of the public would convert the scene of crime into a place of remembrance so that Kenyans do not forget what happened in Shakahola for many generations and centuries to come.
“This is not a place that can be reverted to farming, ranching and other human activities because the souls of our brothers and sisters, adults and children that we lost here require much more dignity than that,” he said.
He said once the investigations are completed, the government would, in consultation of members of the public including the local community, call a national congregation of all religious faiths so that the true believers from every religion and the country’s leadership at all levels for a commemoration service presided over by religious leaders,
This, he said, would be able to rescue the sacred right and freedom of worship and correct the damage caused by Mr. Mackenzie and his collaborators that he said had given religion a bad name despite the fact that religion has done a lot of good to humanity.
“We want to rescue the sacredness and freedom of worship which has been threatened and defiled by crooks, criminals and thugs who have been hiding behind scriptures of different religions to commit crime, and Mr. Mackenzie belongs to that category,” he said.
Prof. Kindiki said the security roads, which are being opened by the Kenya Defence Forces, will be used by security agencies to search and rescue those who are still alive within the Shakahola forest as well as identify the graves of those who may have died and buried there.
He said a total of 242 persons had died in the tragedy (the number rose to 251 after nine more bodies were exhumed Tuesday) and that 95 victims of the cultic teachings had been rescued by the security agencies since the “Operation Okoa Maisha” began, 19 of them having already been reunited with their families.
He said 93 DNA samples had been taken from family members of missing persons suspected to have been followers of Mr. Mackenzie for the purpose of scientifically identifying the bodies, most of which are decomposed beyond recognition.
He called upon the families who could have lost their loved ones to be patient as processing of DNA result takes time.
By Emmanuel Masha
