- The members of the commission are; Lady Justice Mary Kasango, Eric Gumbo, Bishop Catherine Mutua and Jonathan Lodompui.
- On Tuesday, 30 postmortems and 27 DNAs for families looking for their relatives who joined the cult were done.
Image: FILE
President William Ruto has appointed a commission of inquiry into the Shakohola tragedy.
In a gazette notice, the head of state said Lady Justice Jessie Lessit will chair the commission, together with sevens others.
The members of the commission are Lady Justice Mary Kasango, Eric Gumbo, Bishop Catherine Mutua and Jonathan Lodompui.
Others are Frank Njenga, Wanyama Musiambu and Albert Musasia.
The commission will also have joint secretaries Oliver Karori and Rachel Maina. It will also have Kioko Kilukumi as its lead counsel, assisted by Vivian Nyambeki and Bahati Mwamuye.
The mandate of the commission of inquiry will be mainly to inquire into the deaths, torture, and inhumane and degrading treatments of members of the Good News International Church.
"The team will establish the circumstances under which the deaths and inhumane torture occurred," the gazette notice said.
The commission will also inquire into the factors that lead to the rise of that particular religious extremist institution and other formations that fosters negative religion-based activities.
More than 15 mass graves were identified in the Shakahola forest, Kilifi county.
This is likely to increase the number of bodies recovered from the forest even as the search for survivors goes on.
On Tuesday, 30 postmortems and 27 DNAs for families looking for their relatives who joined the cult were done.
This brings the total number of postmortems to 40 since the exercise started.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the process could take one week and the other one for DNA up to one month.
Paul Mackenzie, who is in police custody, is being investigated for influencing his followers to starve to death to meet their maker.
Police also suspect that some of the victims did not starve to death and may have been killed and then buried on the property.