‘Mtumishi’ who dumped husband and Mzungu for Mackenzie cult

Mtumishi Janet, as she is commonly referred to, her three children and niece are feared to be among hundreds who fasted to death in the Shakahola cult forest to meet their creator.

So far, 201 bodies have been exhumed from the shallow graves, and there are believed to be many more.

If what the family established is true, their loved one died a painful death deep in the forest, emaciated and naked.

Photos of a person believed to be her, which were shared on social media, showed her badly decomposed body lying under a tree.

She had been dumped by residents of Shakahola, who found her in the forest about to die, and asked for water but was not given due to her state. She died five minutes later.

Fearing that her body might not be found, the locals carried her in a wheelbarrow to the forest closer to the road, where she was found during the second phase of exhumation by the security personnel conducting search and rescue operations in the forest.

Her daughter is also suspected to be the one government chief pathologist Johansen Oduor described as the woman who appeared to have had complications during delivery as she was pregnant.

Before joining the cult, Mtumishi Janet was operating a boutique at Coral Key beach in the resort town of Malindi, a well-paying job then as tourism was at its peak.

Her Kenyan husband called Masha, (now) a citizen of Italy, was well-off too, and their marriage was successful.

In the midst of their love, she got a wealthy Italian boyfriend. They were dating and life was good.

The mzungu, however, dumped her after she joined Good News International Church and started believing in not going to the hospital.

Janet later was to become a close and trusted assistant of Mackenzie.

COMING TO TERMS

We arrived at the home and found Mtumishi Janet’s sister Peris and sister-in-law Mary (whose daughter is feared to have died in Shakahola, too) seated outside.

They all appeared weak and deep in thought, probably trying to come to terms with the reality of losing loved ones in the name of the Lord.

After realising we were journalists, their first response was, “We are tired of talking about this issue. We don’t think we shall get our loved ones. Just leave us in peace.”

Janet’s sister-in-law looked depressed. She said she was sick and had no energy to share the story of her daughter, whom she struggled to educate up to Form 4 before she joined the GNI church, got married in Chakama and escaped to Shakahola forest.

At first, Janet’s sister Peris Dhahabu was reluctant to talk, but she gave us chairs and soon got into a deep conversation about their efforts to rescue her sister, which did not succeed.

She even showed us the permanent house her sister left to concentrate on ‘the holy mission’, where she now lives with her younger sister.

“We have five members of our family who are followers of Pastor Mackenzie,” she said.

“My elder sister who brought me up was called Mtumishi Janet (Pastor Janet). She was the fourth eldest. My mother died when I was young. She brought me up until I grew up.”

Dhahabu said her sister joined GNI ministries in 2010. Back then she was working as a beach operator but quit, claiming it was against the church’s beliefs.

She said on the beach, they lie to convince clients to buy their products, which was not in line with the church's teachings.

In 2016, her sister managed to convince their father to join the church,  but in less than two months, he got an accident in Muyeye after being hit by a rock and died.

My sister tried to convince me to join the church but I rejected it because even my sister used to be a partygoer, so I told her when the time comes, I would join the church

TURNING POINT

For Dhahabu, her father’s death led to her knowing Mackenzie physically as he used to visit their home to mourn with them and fundraise for the burial.

“My sister tried to convince me to join the church but I rejected it because even my sister used to be a partygoer, so I told her when the time comes, I would join the church,” she said.

In 2021, she said her sister, who had bought land in Shakahola, visited her rental house and asked her to move into her house at home as she was going to permanently relocate to the new farm in Shakahola.

At first, she rejected but she insisted on that and gave her one large room, which she was to convert to a full bedroom with a sitting room, to stay in.

“She came and found I had not moved and became mad at me. She took tea and left for Shakahola. Later, her daughter called me and told me her mother had now decided to sell the house because I had refused to move in,” she said.

Dhahabu said she was forced to move in after renovating the room and her sister used to visit once in a while.

At times, she would call and ask her to buy some household items, such as rice and other items she used to love.

Surprisingly, she would ask for the items to be taken to Pastor Mackenzie’s church in Furunzi, then they would be transported to Shakahola.

In June last year, Dhahabu resumed her work on the beach. One day, her sister came home and found her in a long phone conversation.

“She asked for her bedroom keys and went to her room. When she came back, she found I was still on the phone, so she left without bidding me goodbye,” she said.

Little did she know that her sister had come to pick up all her personal belongings and left for Shakahola forest.

She called her sister's son, who said the mother had left as they were leaving at 1pm for Shakahola.

Mtumishi Janet did not come back home again. She only made phone calls once in a while.

REPORTS OF DEATHS

Dhahabu said when news began going round about deaths in Shakahola, they feared her sister could be among the victims.

In March, one child who was rescued by his family brought information that their sister was in a bad state.

Most of the time she said her sister could not be reached on the phone, but one day when her phone went through, she said her phone had issues and wanted a new phone.

She later learnt that her sister was selling her house in Kasufini at Sh2.5 million to get money for survival in the forest.

“She told me there was a man called Baba Mary from Gongoni who is their follower in the church and would come with a client to buy the house,” she said.

On March 15, they got reports that children were dying in Shakahola. Upon calling Janet, she dismissed the reports.

Three days later, they got information from Mackenzie’s followers that Janet’s lastborn called Right had died in the forest.

Her sister's children had quit school at Little Angels Private School, a prestigious school in Malindi, and went with their mother to Shakahola as education as per their church was ungodly.

To be continued