AD-HOC Senate Committee mandated to regulate religious matters in Kenya has urged the public to provide any information that will help them disclose the truth to what caused the deaths of more than 235 people recently exhumed from Shakahola.
Chaired by Tana River County Senator Danson Mungatana, the committee on Friday commenced the investigations in KIlifi to establish the cause of mysterious deaths that allegedly links Pastor Mackenzi to radicalizing his followers into a religious cult.
“We are not a security agency so feel free to open up to us on any information you have, not just concerning the shocking Shakahola massacre but any other harmful religion practice”, Mungatana said.
The committee has committed to meet the rescued victims and religious leaders during their visit to Shakahola Forest.
“You can’t have absolute freedom of worship but you can exercise your freedom in a way that is responsible and does not hurt any individual”, he said.
He urged Kenyans to give them time to probe into the issue arguing that the senate being a deliberative house, it can’t just take one direction without listening to every pillar conjoined to the issue.
According to Mungatana, the committee will prioritize probing the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) to establish why the internet social forums are still showing the indespicable preachings of the infamous pastor Makenzi.
“We want to know how CAK is going to regulate the standards of sharing these misleading preachings through the TV and internet spaces like whatsapp, tiktok, twitter among others, and what measure they will take stop it’’ he said.
Kilifi county governor Gideon Mung’aro regretted that Kilifi County is gaining fame through a negative outlook owing to the religious cult victims’ mass deaths despite being a tourist hotspot.
“Someone who didn’t even have a gun allegedly killed more than 200 people exceeding the numbers of any previous terror attack that has ever occurred in this country”,Mung’aro said.
Mung’aro encouraged the residents to report any issue to the senate committee without fearing anything.
IAN BYRON