Two years after 429 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in Kenya’s Shakahola Forest, hundreds remain preserved in cold storage, unidentified, while families wait in limbo
This heart-breaking feature follows Stephen Mwiti, a grieving father who lost his wife and six children to the doomsday cult led by Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, founder of Good News International Ministries church.
Since 2022, Mwiti has been knocking on every door, desperately searching for answers to the whereabouts of his wife and five children. Only one of his sons, Samuel, was positively identified through a DNA match by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in 2023. But to date, the government has not released Samuel’s body to his father for burial.
The Shakahola massacre unveiled critical shortcomings in Kenya’s public health and emergency response systems, overwhelming local mortuary capacities and highlighting systemic failures in managing mass casualty events.
From forensic pathologists to human rights activists, we confront the tragic reality, and reveal the devastating human toll of delayed DNA results, mental health trauma among survivors and relatives, why Kenya’s disaster response system failed and how political silence and policy gaps leave victims forgotten.
