When the Shakahola cult was exposed in 2023, a raft of measures was put in place by the government as officials vowed never to let such an occurrence happen again in the country.
The Interior Ministry led by the then CS and current Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, was at the frontline vowing to bring to an end indoctrination that puts lives at risk.
At the other end, legislators were busy probing the matter, eventually coming up with recommendations on how to stop such cultism in the future, as religious leaders fought back suggestions that their institutions be regulated by the government.
Barely two years later, it has emerged that a similar cult was still operating within the same Chakama ranch where the Shakahola group had been found. This was happening as all attention was diverted to the ongoing Shakahola cases, where preacher Paul Mackenzie and other suspects have been charged.
A police officer manning a home in Binzaro, Chakama Ranch, where a body of a middle-aged man was found. Authorities say at least eight people are being investigated in what appears like the Shakahola cult.
Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi| Nation Media Group
Preliminary investigations have found that some of those who were found at the Kwa Binzaro homestead were linked to the Shakahola cult. Among them are people who had left Shakahola for their villages in Western Kenya, only for them to return with children to Kwa Binzaro.
In such cases, relatives have disclosed that they made missing persons reports to the police. However, it remains unclear what action, if any, was taken to find their kin.
The government has now attributed the fresh wave of cult deaths in the five-acre Kwa Binzaro, Kilifi County, to rejection and stigma faced by survivors of the Shakahola massacre.
Speaking on Tuesday after the exhumation of four more bodies from shallow graves in a forested section of the village, bringing the death toll to 13, Coast Regional Coordinator Rhoda Onyancha said that many of the victims were survivors of the Shakahola tragedy who had been rescued and returned home in 2023.
“From what we have established so far, the people who came back here to fast are the same as those we rescued in Shakahola. Some went back home but were not fully accepted by their relatives, families and communities. That rejection made them come back to this area,” Ms Onyancha explained.
A police officer manning the home in Binzaro Area in Chakama Ranch where a body of a middle age man was found. Authoritites say at least 8 people are being investigated in what appears like the Shakahola cult.
Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation
She urged families to accept and reintegrate those rescued from cult indoctrination, warning that failure to do so would drive them back into the forests to fast to death.
After the Shakahola tragedy, a police camp was set up to secure the crime scene. Promises were made to beef up security in the area, and changes were made to the security team after police were blamed for laxity.
The Regional Coordinator, who was accompanied by Regional Police Commander Ali Nuno, said this time round, the cult followers did not go to the area of the first incident but deeper into the forest. She acknowledged that monitoring activities across the vast ranch is difficult, but praised security teams for detecting the cult before more lives were lost. Locals said the homestead was set up around April this year.
“This ranch is very huge, over 50,000 acres. It is not easy to detect everything, but we appreciate that this one was detected before more people died,” she added.
However, detectives involved in the investigations said the cult's activities were not limited to the Kwa Binzaro area. According to them, remnants of the Good News International Church, once led by Mackenzie, are still actively recruiting members through door-to-door indoctrination in different regions.
Families are approached with apocalyptic messages, and once convinced, the new recruits are transported to Malindi, where they are temporarily held in radicalisation cells. After thorough brainwashing, they are moved to Kwa Binzaro and confined in forest homesteads to begin their final fast.
Morticians carry an exhumed body at Kwa Binzaro village within the vast Chakama Ranch in Kilifi County on August 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Brian Ocharo | Nation Media Group
So far, 13 bodies and 18 body parts have been recovered from the forest. Post-mortems and DNA analysis will determine whether they belong to the bodies already exhumed or to other individuals.
The Regional Coordinator confirmed that Kwa Binzaro is not an isolated case since Shakahola was exposed.
“This is not the only area we are witnessing this after Shakahola. We have arrested people in Ganze, Kaloleni in Kilifi, and Kinango in Kwale counties doing crazy things in the name of religion. This shows our officers are on high alert,” she said, urging continued vigilance.
Preliminary investigations show that at least three spiritual leaders were overseeing the final radicalisation in the cells, which are under probe. Recruits were locked or tied inside grass-thatched rooms, fasting until death. In the case of families, members were placed together in one room to die collectively.
According to the detectives, this arrangement was designed to ensure no one escapes, leaving behind no witnesses who could testify.
Unlike in Shakahola, where survivors are now testifying against Mackenzie and his 95 accomplices, this new network sought to ensure every person taken into the forest dies. The cult also adopted new burial methods to avoid detection.
Dead members were buried secretly and hurriedly by assigned grave diggers, without the ceremonies that marked burials in Shakahola. Graves were concealed with shrubs, leaving little trace.
Ms Onyancha said that investigations are also focusing on how the group acquired land within Chakama Ranch, despite owners insisting they never sold any part of the property. She confirmed that further arrests are expected as detectives follow leads on individuals outside the ranch who continue to brainwash people into joining the deadly movement.
