Exhumations had been halted because of heavy rains.
Autopsies indicated the cause of death was mainly starvation but a number of suffocation and strangulation CASES CAEwere identified.
Speaking at St Joseph Benedict Cottollengo Catholic Church in Meru county, the CS said a total of 112 bodies were exhumed from graves found in Shakahola Forest, associated with Pastor Paul Mackenzie.
“On Tuesday I will be officially launching the second phase of the exhumation since the experts are telling us that we still have more graves in the forest which means that the number of bodies will increase,” CS Kindiki said.
Due to security issues, all but authorised people have been barred from the forest that has been declared a security operation zone. Those seeking entry should have a valid reason and must first inform security officers who will escort them.
“We have also asked journalists to cooperate because the work there is very critical and there are photos we would not like to be taken due to medical and security ethics. [These ethics] do not allow the press to go there and start filming decomposing bodies. We can easily be sued as a government if we allow this to happen,” Kindiki said.
Photos that are published could interfere with investigations and also intrude on privacy and family suffering, as well as being insensitive and in bad taste.
He said the government has nothing to hide, regardless of the number of bodies that will be exhumed.
“We will tell the world what happened and make sure the whole truth comes out so that we do not have such an incident again in our country,” the CS said.
He said the government will go after the criminals engaged in the deaths of innocent men, women and children and make sure they face the most painful punishment ever found in the law books.
“We will make sure they pay for the blood of innocent men, women and children, which they have shed,” Kindiki said.
“We recognise the Constitution of our country permits the freedom of worship and religion. However, the same Constitution does not allow people to exercise the freedom of worship or religion to manipulate the word of God and the holy scriptures to hurt people and to engage in criminal activities.”
He said, however, the government will continue working with the church and other leaders, especially those preaching the gospel and serving the citizens in a righteous manner. The CS criticised those who argued the government was fighting the church.
“There is no fight between the government and religion and the church. In fact, we recognise that the Constitution gives freedom of worship and we respect it. We are also Christians and we can't oppress the church that we belong in,” CS Kindiki said.
He said politicians trying to politicise the issue or trying to access the forest on political expeditions should be informed that it's a security operation zone and they should keep off unless they have something tangible and positive to do there.
(Edited by V. Graham)
