Shakahola confessions: Suspect who pleaded guilty details torture, starvation that killed over 400

These were the words of Enos Amanya Ngala, a follower of a cult led by Mackenzie and head of security in the Shakahola forest, as he signed off on the confession produced as evidence before the High Court in Mombasa.

Ngala, the first suspect to plead guilty in the Shakahola murder case, added that there were more than 1,000 members of the Good News International church in the forest.

Ngala’s confession paints the Shakahola massacre, in which more than 450 people died, as a tragedy driven not only by faith and quest for salvation but also by fraud and fear, forces that turned religious obedience into a deadly trap for its followers.
Also known as 'Hallelujah', Ngala provides a chilling account of how he and others enforced Mackenzie’s directives, offering insight into why no one in the forest was meant to survive the deadly consequences of blind loyalty.

According to his confession, supported by previous witness accounts, followers had invested their money in plots of land sold by their preacher, only to later face threats of eviction from land they believed they had legally purchased.

By June 2022, anxiety had gripped Shakahola. Settlers had grown increasingly restless as eviction threats loomed, exposing the fragility of the promises that had drawn them to the forest.

It was against this backdrop of rising panic and betrayal that fasting to death was presented as the only escape, framed as a divine shield against an “enemy attack” that followers were told was inevitable.

Ngala relocated to Shakahola in November 2020. Before then, he lived in Nairobi with his wife and seven children and, by his own account, was financially stable. Together with his younger brother, David Amanya, he ran a garbage collection business known as Edmak Garbage Collection. The business hired trucks to facilitate operations.

“From the proceeds of this business, I purchased the plot on which I built my residential house in Kasarani,” he said.

After joining the church in 2019, Ngala learned from Pastor George Mwaura, a close associate of Mackenzie, that the preacher was selling agricultural land in rural Shakahola. Acting on this information, he sold his Nairobi land for Sh700,000.

Squatter life

He sent Sh100,000 to Mackenzie for the Shakahola plots and another Sh100,000 to the preacher’s associate after being advised it was unsafe to travel with such an amount in cash. Upon arriving in Malindi, Ngala sought to be shown the land he had paid for. 

“Mackenzie referred me to Mwaura, whom I inquired about the land, but he did not reply. I added another Sh20,000 so that he could show me my land, but I spent another month without being shown the land,” he said. This was in 2021.

His confession reveals that after clearing his debts, he used the remainder of the money to fund Shakahola-related activities, a sum largely consumed by the operations of the forest settlement. Ngala testified that Mwaura later disclosed that Mackenzie was not allocating permanent land to followers, but allowing them to occupy plots as squatters.

“He further warned us to be cautious when he instructed us to fast,” he said.

He explained that Mwaura and Mackenzie differed on three key issues; the promise of non-existent land, the banning of Bible reading and preaching in the forest, and the cutting off of communication with outsiders.

Weeks turned into months without Ngala being allocated the land he had paid Sh100,000 for, leading to growing frustration. Evidence before court indicates that many other followers experienced similar delays, frustrations and deception.

Mwaura later moved Ngala and others to Chakama Ranch, about five kilometres from Shakahola, where Mackenzie’s followers had erected temporary shelters. They were shown plots, cleared bushes and constructed houses, but soon afterwards the land owner arrived and ordered the structures demolished.

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“I told Pastor Mwaura to refund my money, but he referred me to Mackenzie, saying he owed him Sh100,000. Mackenzie later told me to leave Mwaura as he was a con and showed me another plot where I constructed my house,” Ngala said.

A critical turning point came in June 2022 when a Council of Elders visited Mackenzie in the forest and informed him that the occupation had to end and that all residents should leave.

“I wish to state that we were over 1,000 residents on the land. The elders then threatened to invade,” Ngala said.

Following this confrontation, Mackenzie ordered followers to write letters stating that they had gone to Shakahola to buy land and that, in the event of death, they wished to be buried there. Many complied and handed the letters to Evans Sirya, a close confidant of Mackenzie.

“As we approached July, Mackenzie convened a general meeting and told us not to buy more food, adding that money had no value,” Ngala said.

It was during this meeting that Mackenzie formally declared fasting to death as the only way for believers to meet their Lord Jesus. Ngala told the court that Mackenzie then began reporting strange dreams in which he claimed to have received divine instructions that fasting should begin with children, followed by youth, women and finally men.

“Mackenzie was to be the last to fast, together with his family, to close the door,” he said.

Parents were instructed to supervise their children’s fasting to death, with the young ones portrayed as targets of the government. Ngala was assigned security duties categorised into five areas; land security, borehole security, canopy security, security for those who refused to die, and protection against intruders.

“I was assigned to guard against intruders. During the day, my role was digging graves and burying bodies,” he said.

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Canopy security ensured no one left the prayer and fasting zones. The canopies were created by clearing bushes and leaving narrow entrances.

“We also had bouncers who dealt with anyone defying orders or refusing to fast,” Ngala said, naming several co-accused. He recounted an incident involving Lucas Owino, a believer who questioned the doctrine.

“Owino told them that he had not read anywhere in the Bible where Jesus instructed believers to fast to death as a means of surrendering to Him. The bouncers slapped him and squeezed his toes with pliers before taking his phone,” he said.

Ngala stated that coded language was used within the group. Bodies were referred to as “fertiliser”, burial as “planting”, and death as “taking a jet” to meet Jesus. “Amina” was required to affirm the pastor’s teachings.

Mackenzie taught that those who died were safe and already in heaven, emphasising that food was evil and that dying of hunger opened the path to salvation. Dreams allegedly involving deceased followers urging others to continue fasting became common and were used to sustain the deaths.

The confession further shows that after the eviction threats, Mackenzie’s teachings increasingly focused on surrendering the body and “taking a jet”, rather than addressing the concerns of followers who had sold property and relocated in expectation of fertile agricultural land.

During this period, Ngala witnessed the deaths of three of his children; Aaron Joshua, 9, Ejah Nyaleso, 11, and Snider Amanya, 23. Only one child survived after refusing to participate and leaving the group. 

“Mackenzie used to pray for children taking their last meal before fasting, and also for those fasting so that they could go and meet Jesus,” he said.

Preaching in the forest shifted away from opposition to Huduma Number, vaccination, hospitals and education, focusing instead on offering the body through fasting as the end drew near. Ngala said Mackenzie later declared that entry into heaven required kicks and fists.

“The bouncers started tying those who refused to offer their bodies. They were tied using binding wire and left tied to trees until they breathed their last. When many people died at once, trenches were dug and bodies buried together. Burials were conducted both during the day and at night,” he said.

When locals became aware of the deaths, the emaciated followers who were close to dying were moved deeper into the forest on Mackenzie’s instructions. Ngala’s wife, Anne Anyoso, was arrested at a canopy that had claimed the lives of their six children, where she was also waiting to die.

“When I met Mackenzie at Malindi Police Station following our arrest, he asked me why I did not fast to death,” Ngala said.

While followers were fasting and dying, Ngala testified that Mackenzie’s wife, Rhoda Mumbua, was eating well and even taking fruits.

“I wish to state that around 700 people died during fasting in Shakahola,” he said.

Ngala pleaded guilty last Friday to murdering 191 children in Shakahola jointly with Mackenzie and 27 accomplices whom he implicated in his confession. The High Court in Mombasa heard the names of 11 murdered children, while other victims were identified by initials, gender and grave sites from which their bodies were later exhumed.

With Ngala’s conviction, the prosecution formally closed its murder case after calling 120 witnesses, producing more than 500 exhibits and conducting six months of intensive hearings.

The court is expected to sentence Ngala as well as to receive submissions from both the defense and prosecution before retiring to write a ruling on case to answer for Mackenzie and the remaining co-suspects.

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