The incident in Malindi where several poor Kenyans have starved themselves to death with false hope of meeting God is heart-rending.
As of Saturday, 21 bodies had been discovered in shallow graves in Shakahola village. All the victims are said to be members of Good News International Church.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie has been arrested and is currently in custody as detectives dig graves to exhume several people believed to have been duped into starving their way to heaven. Though having faith in God is a good thing, some wayward individuals often use this to dupe others into cultic beliefs, while others use religion to radicalize others to kill each other in the name of God.
These unfortunate events shine light on the failure by state to protect its citizens against wayward individuals using religion as tool of oppression. The state needs to develop ways to regulate religious organisations. This is not to say freedom of worship should be curtailed but there has to be some vetting to deal with cults.
A proper church or mosque will not be interfered with but cultic organizations or those bent on radicalizing youths should be given no chance to mushroom.
