This isn’t excellent news popping out of the Good Information Worldwide Church, in Kilifi County. What we now have is common horror and revulsion on the veritable bloodbath inside Shakahola Forest, the place devotees of a cult led by a Paul Mackenzie have reportedly starved themselves to demise over the previous twenty years.
On the time of writing, the demise toll stood at 73 as police continued with the exhumation of mass graves within the pastor’s property for extra our bodies. That demise on such a mass scale can happen undetected for a very long time is, clearly, a extreme indictment of each the native and nationwide safety and administrative equipment.
We have now a presence of the Nationwide Police Service proper all the way down to the village stage, in addition to the nationwide authorities administrative equipment of chiefs, and upwards to sub-county, county and regional commissioners. The county governments have their very own parallel administrative equipment all the way down to ward stage.
After which there may be the as soon as much-vaunted Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS) with its personal very massive community of brokers and informers offering ears and eyes even all the way down to the native church, mosque and bar.
We have now, subsequently, witnessed a large failure of presidency. Inside Cupboard Secretary Kithure Kindiki’s belated show of shock and fury doesn’t disguise the truth that he’s presiding over failed methods.
It may very well be a big group of silly and ignorant worshippers brainwashed into zombie state by a charlatan in order that they will starve themselves to demise and depart him all their wealth. Or the bandits, cattle rustlers, ethnic militia and different home terrorists wreaking havoc with half the nation, the safety equipment decreased to impotence.
All that and every little thing else in between—together with rampant city and rural crime, muggings, robberies, rapes, land invasions and employment of prison gangs by these in energy—point out a failing state. Our safety businesses are too busy guarding the ‘Vagabonds in Energy’ aka VIPs, operating political errands or managing their very own prison networks to detect and forestall large crimes perpetrated underneath their very own noises.
However past the monumental failures uncovered by the horror in Shakahola, a spot few outdoors the neighborhood had ever heard of, can also be a serious societal downside.
Prepared victims
We are saying we’re a nation of religion and prayer. We place non secular leaders and establishments on a excessive pedestal and turn into keen victims of the chicanery, extortion, lies, brainwashing and mercantilism inside.
We shut our eyes (in prayer?) to the crimes dedicated in God’s title and, as a substitute, venerate and blindly comply with the cons operating Kenya’s solely rising business. And we’re extra obsessive about peering into bedrooms than tackling the true crimes that threaten nationwide safety.
The very loud silence from the so-called mainstream church buildings in midst of nationwide horror on the crimes dedicated by their compatriot may be very telling.
We have now seen the leaders of the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and different church buildings come out swiftly and promptly in condemnation of opposition agitation. We have now a big grouping of evangelical church buildings, a few of them the verging to the Good Information doctrine, being fortunately adopted by State Home and lavished with public funds to allow them to pray for the regime in energy.
In President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, we now have a ruling pair and their respective spouses who’re ceaselessly proclaiming their religiousness and actively selling the cultish church buildings that target the so-called prosperity gospel and devotion to loud, flashy, charismatic people.
We have now elevated faith to untouchable and unregulated standing that even the safety businesses will discover it safer to look the opposite approach when blatant crimes are being dedicated. It’s in such an atmosphere the place the state is captured by dodgy non secular leaders that the likes of Pst Mackenzie will fly underneath the radar.
Prof Kindiki has promised extreme punishment for these behind the Shakahola atrocities, and out of that additionally broached “tighter regulation (together with self-regulation) of each church, mosque, temple or synagogue going ahead”.
Allow us to pray that these aren’t the barks of a toothless bulldog, as we’re day by day seeing from the safety operation towards banditry in Pokot, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and neighbouring counties within the ungoverned north.
We should, certainly, demand nothing lower than the severest punishment for these accountable, however that should go along with Prof Kindiki additionally shifting swiftly to take care of the very apparent lapses and dereliction of obligation by his officers on the bottom.
The Inside CS should additionally do no matter he can to rescue the state from seize by non secular extremism which may stupefy these in energy—simply because it zombified the ‘Unhealthy Information Worldwide Church’ devoted.
