In one of the deadliest cult-related deaths in recent memory, the bodies of over 400 members of the Good News International Church have been dug up from Kenya’s Shakahola woodland since April 2023.
Upon discovering the bodies of loved ones who were forced to starve themselves by a doomsday cult leader, grieving relatives have reportedly emerged in tears from a hospital mortuary in Kenya.
At a hospital mortuary in the town of Malindi on Tuesday, a limited number of bodies were the first to be given to relatives. Before being allowed inside, relatives waited in single file. Tears welled up from several of them.
Sylvanus Opodo, who had traveled from western Kenya to retrieve his brother’s body, expressed his exhaustion at the entire ordeal.
According to Opodo, the family’s inability to pay for suitable transportation of the remains exacerbated an already challenging position.
He waited outside the mortuary under the shade of a tree and said, “They asked us to bring a hearse but we have no means to transport the remains of our brother.”
A portion of the corpses were removed on gurneys and placed in car trunks. TV camera operators and reporters were kept well away.
Body transfer taking a long time
Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the cult, turned himself in to the police in April of last year and is one of 29 people charged with murder.
No one has entered a guilty plea. Mackenzie is charged with informing his followers that the world was about to end and that they needed to commit themselves in order to be the first people to enter paradise.
To date, just 35 bodies have been positively identified, adding to the suffering of hundreds of families who are eager to bury their loved ones.
According to government officials, the post-mortem, identification, and exhumation processes were causing delays in the bodies’ transfer. Some severely damaged remains have been identified by DNA testing.
Roseline Odede, the chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which is supported by the state, stated that the procedure has to be expedited.
“Going at this rate, we are going to be here for 10 years, trying to identify the 390 plus bodies,” she stated to reporters.
“I think the government must intentionally commit resources towards this process so that we are able to give closure to families.”
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
