Don't treat Shakahola massacre with political feelings – Sossion

Former Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion has urged leaders not to treat the Shakahola massacres with political feelings saying the issue is of importance.

On Tuesday morning, Sossion said it was wrong for leaders to blame the security body on the issue.

He said matters religion are very complex and when it shifts to issues of cultism it becomes more complex.

"Blaming the security is wrong, when families move and tell you that they are going for prayers and fasting, it looks like a normal thing," Sossion said.

The Ministry of Tourism CAS further said that nobody knew that the isolated 800 acre was a death trap.

Sossion said some cults operate outside the radar of security.

"There are things that happen beyond the radar of security and even the FBI cannot be able to tap that," he said.

Sossion compared the issue to the Yala dead bodies case, saying that the discovery was made much later.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge of the Good News International Church is said to have instructed members to starve themselves to "meet Jesus".

As of Monday evening, 73 bodies had been exhumed from a gravesite in Shakahola village, Kilifi, where followers of Mackenzie are believed to have been buried.

The Kenya Red Cross has also reported that 212 people have been reported missing at their desk in Shakahola.

Azimio leaders have accused the government of betraying the people of Kilifi even as they called for regulation of the faith-based groups.

Led by National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi and his Senate counterpart Stewart Madzayo, Azimio said the mass deaths would have been averted had the local security officers played their part.

"As all these were happening, where were the local security officers including the chiefs, police officers and even NIS," Madzayo said.

Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi said the revelation has exposed government inefficiency, especially at the grassroots.

The leaders said the country's security team needs a rethink and an overhaul.