Twenty-one more bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in Kenya’s coast on Tuesday, raising the starvation-cult death toll to 133, the government said.
Interior minister Kithure Kindiki, who addressed journalists in Malindi, Kilifi County, denied police reports suggesting that some of the victims’ body parts had been harvested for commercial gains.
“Treat the allegations [of organ harvesting] as rumours,” he said, adding: “People who have facts are those on the ground, not those in offices.”
The chief government pathologist, Dr. Johansen Oduor, had also dispelled the claims, saying postmortem conducted on all bodies showed that their organs were intact.
Kilifi County Police Commander Rhoda Onyancha said so far, 566 people have reported their loved ones missing, and are suspecting that they could have joined the cult allegedly led by local pastor, Paul Mackenzie.
Ninety-three people have already submitted their samples for DNA analysis.
It is alleged that the victims starved to death on orders of their pastor, Paul Mackenzie. The preacher allegedly told them that they would “meet Jesus” if they hastened their deaths.
According to some survivors, children were directed to die first, then the unmarried people, the married were to follow thereafter, and finally Mackenzie and his family.
The search and exhumation exercise resumed on Tuesday at the Shakahola forest under tight security.
Kindiki said the process will be carried out carefully to protect the dignity and privacy of the families of the deceased persons.
Kenya has thus far rescued 68 people found starving in the forest.
“The investigation team is closing in on Level Two and Level Three perpetrators who [allegedly] aided Mackenzie to execute the heinous atrocity,” Kindiki said.
The government has declared the 50,000-acre ranch in Shakahola a security area with “limited access for all persons who are unauthorised”.
At least 25 people, including Mackenzie and his wife, have been arrested in connection with the deaths.
The government said Mackenzie and his co-accused will face terrorism, murder and abduction charges.
