NAIROBI, Kenya – Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has urged Kenyans to actively support security agencies in the fight against deadly cults, warning that community silence and inaction have enabled such groups to flourish.
Speaking in Busia on Wednesday during the launch of the Jukwaa la Usalama tour in Western Kenya, Murkomen said law enforcement relies heavily on public intelligence to identify and dismantle dangerous sects before they cause harm.
“Please report suspicious religions to authorities well in advance before they cause harm to the people,” he appealed.
The CS expressed concern over the rising number of cult-related deaths in the country, lamenting what he described as the collapse of communal vigilance.
“It is not possible for someone to leave Busia, for example, and their neighbours, family, and friends do not report them missing—especially if they have joined suspicious religions. Why have we abandoned communal living and community policing, where we keep watch over our neighbours and friends?” Murkomen posed.
He cautioned that many cults deliberately set up operations in remote areas to evade detection and called on citizens to report unusual gatherings or isolated religious activities.
Murkomen’s remarks come amid fresh horror from Kwa Bi Nzaro Forest in Kilifi County, where homicide detectives recently exhumed more than 40 bodies believed to be linked to a religious cult.
The discovery has reignited national outrage less than two years after the Shakahola massacre, where more than 450 bodies were recovered from mass graves tied to self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie of the Good News International Church.
Mackenzie is accused of directing followers to starve themselves to death in pursuit of salvation.
In the ongoing Kwa Bi Nzaro probe, a multi-agency team has been deployed to conduct postmortems and DNA analysis, with operations coordinated at the Malindi Sub-County Hospital mortuary under the leadership of Homicide Director Martin Nyuguto.
Murkomen stressed that government intervention alone is insufficient to stop the spread of cults and urged Kenyans to remain alert and responsible.
