Mackenzie’s doomsday cult mirrored global cult tragedies, court told

Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s radical teachings and control tactics that led to the Shakahola massacre bore striking similarities to deadly cult tragedies in Guyana, Uganda and the United States, a Shanzu court has heard.

A forensic psychologist told the court on Wednesday that Mackenzie manipulated scripture and conspiracy theories to radicalize followers under the guise of religious salvation, resulting in the deaths of more than 400 people.

Testifying before Principal Magistrate Leah Juma, Consultant Forensic Psychologist Oscar Githua described how Mackenzie’s followers, drawn in by distorted Bible messages and doomsday warnings, adopted extreme beliefs and practices that justified even death.

"These included adoption of sacred values beliefs so deeply held that they justified even death," Githua said.

He said the followers believed the physical world, including education, healthcare and government systems, was evil.

Participation in state services such as the Huduma Number was seen as defiling and a threat to salvation.

The court heard that some mothers aided the deaths of their own children in the belief that starving them was a form of spiritual purity.

"It is unheard of, but some mothers aided their children in dying. This illustrates the depth of their radicalization," said Dr Githua.

According to his testimony, Mackenzie encouraged isolation, control, and total submission to his authority through apocalyptic messages that labelled governments as demonic and modern systems as satanic.

His sermons carried titles like Anti-Christ, The Fallen Babylon, Katiba ni Mambo ya Shetani (The Constitution is the Devil’s Work), and Mwanadamu ni Shetani (Man is the Devil).

Investigators recovered literature from his compound, including The New World Order by Ralph Epperson, a book known for promoting global conspiracy theories.

Githua said the group showed five key signs of violent extremism, including delusions, obsessive prayer, radical dress code, deteriorated health and total rejection of the outside world. He described this as a copy-and-paste of historic cult disasters.

“In all these cases,” he said, “followers were isolated in remote areas, cut off from government oversight, and subjected to the absolute authority of a leader who used physical, emotional, and sometimes sexual abuse to maintain control. The groups rejected all forms of government and embraced extreme obedience, ultimately resulting in mass fatalities.”

He compared Shakahola to the 1978 Jonestown massacre in Guyana, where over 900 people died in a mass murder-suicide, the 1993 Waco siege in Texas where 88 died, and the Uganda cult deaths that killed more than 700.

The court also heard that Mackenzie ordered followers to relocate to Shakahola forest to wait for the end of the world.

This isolation, according to the prosecution, created an environment where abuse, indoctrination and starvation could go unchallenged.

Assistant DPP Jami Yamina, together with prosecution counsels Juma Victor Owiti and Betty Rubia, said Mackenzie’s actions showed deliberate use of religious belief to justify mass deaths and deny people their basic rights.