Did a Kenyan cult leader convince his followers to die?

In a shocking discovery on a ranch hidden in Kenya’s Shakahola Forest, over 100 people – including children – have been found dead in mass graves. Hundreds more are still missing. Pastor Paul Mackenzie convinced followers of his Good News International Church that the world was ending, though he denies telling them to starve themselves to death. Now, the country is reeling, and Kenyan President William Ruto has called the mass deaths “akin to terrorism.” But it wasn’t the pastor’s first brush with the authorities. Could this have been stopped? And how did one man get hundreds of people to follow him down this path?

In this episode: 

• Hussein Khalid (@husskhalid), executive director of HAKI Africa 

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K. Li and our host, Malika Bilal. Khaled Soltan fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. 

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

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