Survivor Of Paul MacKenzie Cult Says Husband's Job Was To Bury Victims In Shakahola: "Alikuwa Anawazika"

• The shocking story of Paul Mackenzie's Shakahola cult has continued to throw shivers down people's spines
• A survivor, Salama Masha claimed that her husband used to bury survivors the members who starved themselves to death
• She said she had to escape to go and live with her parents when her husband dissuaded her from leaving Shakahola Forest

Kilifi - A survivor of the Shakahola cult by controversial pastor Paul MacKenzie has lived to tell the story.

According to a report by DW, the survivor, Salama Masha, had just started rebuilding her life after a terrifying ordeal in Shakahola.

Shakahola cult evangelism

Masha said she joined the MacKenzie cult in March 2020 when the government announced the country's first Coronavirus case.

"During the coronavirus pandemic, the preacher told us we needed to live in the wilderness. He said Huduma Namba would come, and everyone needed to be careful since the chips were evil. The gospel started creeping into me," Masha narrated.

She said by the time she was being evangelised to and convinced to join the Shakahola congregation, her husband was already an official in the cult.

"My husband was already into the religion," she said.

The survivor said she noticed that her husband went to bury the dead bodies when he was not with them during the day.

Intention to leave MacKenzie cult

She said she explained the challenges in the cult and expressed her intention to leave Shakahola to her husband.

Masha claimed her husband dissuaded her from leaving the cult, saying they would go to hell. She decided to flee MacKenzie's Shakahola forest to her parent's home.

"When he asked me to stay in Shakahola, I decided to sneak out and went to stay with my parents. I was later informed that he had died and my children had been adopted. I have not seen them since then," she said.

Weeks after staying with her parents, she was informed that her husband had passed on and a regional rescue centre had taken the kids.

Shakahola Death Toll Hits 264

The government exhumed six more bodies at Shakahola forest as the third phase of the exhumation exercise continued.

On Thursday, June 9, the Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said the total number of victims believed to be members of Pastor Paul Mackenzie's Good News International Church now stands at 264.

According to the regional administrator, 19 have so far been identified while 613 people remain missing, Citizen Digital reported.