MOMBASA, Kenya — Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has urged Kenyans who suspect they lost loved ones in the Shakahola massacre to provide DNA samples, as the government struggles to match hundreds of unidentified remains recovered from the vast forest graves in Kilifi County.
Speaking Monday night during a media briefing in Mombasa at the start of his week-long security tour of the coastal region, Murkomen revealed that only 66 DNA matches have been confirmed so far, with more than 300 samples still unmatched.
“Let me take this opportunity to urge Kenyans who believe they may have lost loved ones in the massacre to come forward and have their samples tested against the remaining unidentified ones,” he said. “This is the only way we can bring closure to the families.”
Murkomen also proposed the establishment of a memorial site at the mass grave location, where unmatched remains will eventually be interred—a gesture he said is necessary to preserve the memory of those who perished and to offer a place of reflection for bereaved families.
The Shakahola massacre is one of the deadliest cult-related atrocities in Kenya’s history.
Since April 2023, when police raided the Good News International Church led by self-styled preacher Paul Mackenzie, at least 436 bodies have been recovered from shallow graves in the Shakahola forest, about 70 kilometers inland from Malindi.
Over two years later, more than 600 people remain missing, according to the Kenya Red Cross.
Most of the victims are believed to have been followers of Mackenzie’s teachings, which promoted extreme fasting as a path to salvation.
Autopsies on over 100 bodies revealed disturbing causes of death: starvation, strangulation, suffocation, and blunt force trauma. Many victims were children.
Mackenzie, a former taxi driver who opened his church in 2003 after apprenticing under a preacher in Malindi, rose to prominence with claims of miracle healing and exorcisms.
His followers, drawn from all over Kenya, included teachers, police officers, and civil servants.
He now faces charges including the murder of 191 children, multiple counts of manslaughter, and crimes against humanity.
Alongside 94 co-accused, Mackenzie remains in custody as the complex case unfolds in court, with witnesses detailing the horrors that transpired under his watch.
While the judicial process grinds on, the scientific effort to identify the victims has been hampered by financial constraints and deteriorated remains.
Officials say the cost of DNA analysis has ballooned due to the poor condition of the bodies and the sophisticated testing required.
Dr Joseph Kimani, head of the Forensics Directorate, explained that standard DNA extraction techniques cannot be used.
“You’re dealing with exhumed remains, and that means highly stringent chemical regimes. It’s not just complex—it’s very expensive,” he said.
Many bodies were buried in acidic soil that degraded the DNA, making it difficult to obtain viable profiles.
According to William Munyoki from the Office of the Government Chemist, the decomposition and presence of humic acid in the soil have posed major hurdles.
So far, 333 samples have been processed, but only a fraction have yielded positive matches.
Experts say more samples from relatives are urgently needed to increase the chances of identification.
“If you have a certain number of bodies, you need three times that number in relative samples to find potential matches,” Kimani said. “The delay is really about how fast and how many relatives come forward.”
Beyond logistical barriers, the government is also grappling with procurement issues.
A key DNA test—the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—relies on kits that are not produced locally and must be imported through slow and costly channels.
“There’s no local manufacturer of these kits,” Kimani noted. “One kit for 200 tests costs nearly Sh1 million. Multiply that by the hundreds of samples from Shakahola, and you’re looking at a monumental financial burden.”
For many families, the wait for answers remains agonising. Without matched samples, their loved ones remain buried in evidence bags and refrigerated morgues—denied the dignity of a final resting place.
