Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has called on Kenyans to support security agencies in the fight against deadly cults.
The CS warned that silence and inaction by communities have allowed such groups to thrive and claim lives.
Speaking in Busia during the launch of the Jukwaa la Usalama tour in Western Kenya, Murkomen said the police and other law enforcement agencies rely heavily on intelligence from the public to identify and dismantle dangerous religious cults before they cause harm.
“Please report suspicious religions to authorities well in advance before they cause harm to the people,” he urged.
The CS expressed concern over the increasing number of cult-related deaths, lamenting the apparent collapse of community vigilance and responsibility.
“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,” Murkomen said.
“Why have we abandoned communal living and community policing, where we keep watch over our neighbours and friends?”
He further cautioned that many of these cults operate in remote areas to avoid detection, urging citizens to alert authorities about unusual gatherings or secluded religious activities.
Murkomen’s remarks come in the wake of chilling discoveries from Kwa Bi Nzaro Forest in Kilifi County, where homicide detectives recently exhumed over 40 bodies linked to a suspected religious cult.
The revelations have reignited national outrage, occurring barely two years after over 450 bodies were recovered from the nearby Shakahola Forest, in what has become one of Kenya's most horrific cult tragedies.
In the earlier Shakahola case, self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie of the Good News International Church was accused of directing his followers to fast to death—allegedly promising them entry into heaven.
In the current Kwa Bi Nzaro investigation, the government has deployed a multi-agency team to conduct postmortems and DNA analysis in a bid to determine the causes of death and identify victims.
The operation is being coordinated at the Malindi Subcounty Hospital mortuary, where planning meetings are underway, led by Homicide Director Martin Nyuguto
Murkomen emphasised that government action alone is not enough to eliminate such threats and urged Kenyans to remain alert, involved, and responsible.
