The controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie is believed to have first set foot in Malindi, Kilifi county at Migingo village, with his mission clear: to convert as many followers as possible.
Speaking in hush tones, neighbors say Mackenzie settled here in 2015 before leaving last year.
“Hapa alihama kutoka mwaka jana kwa sababu ya hilo swala la watoto wa shule akanunua shamba kule Shakahola,” says Johnson Katana, a resident of Migingo.
According to the neighbors, when he left, he had converted many into his followers who they had never heard of those who left until the horrors of the Shakahola graves surfaced last week.
“Hao wafuasi wake walianza kwenda moja moja kumfuata…sio watoto tu waliokuwa wakifunga ata watoto ata hao majirani wetu waliomfuata ni kwa sababu na hilo swala la kufunga…majirani wengine walikosana na mabibi zao kwa sababu ya huyu mtumishi,” Katana adds.
This comes as families of believers who are still missing continue to throng the Malindi police station and Shakahola forest with the hopes of sighting their loved ones some coming from as far as Nyanza and Western regions.
Among them are James Mukala, a Mombasa resident, and Henry Otieno from Nairobi.
“Nilikuja hapa jana kutafuta sister yangu na watoto wake wawili, nimeenda hadi mortuary,” Otieno says.
The families have been camping at the police station insisting that they are not going to leave until they receive reports of their loved ones who disappeared more than 3 years ago to follow the misleading teachings of Paul Mackenzie.
Some say they have attempted to reach their loved ones through mobile phones only for them to receive disappointing responses.
“Niko na sister yangu na mtoto wake walipotea…leo nimejaribu kuongea na mpendwa wangu ako na sauti ndogo. Ananiambia atakuja nyumbani June,” Peter Mwaniki says.
Now, the families have called on the government to put more emphasis on searching for those still hiding deep in the forest of Shakahola even as detectives continue to unravel more graves.
The number of bodies exhumed from the forest has since risen to 47, following the exhumation of bodies on Sunday, with detectives yet to dig up more than 50 graves and the number of those alive remaining unknown.
By Jane Kibathi.
