The number of fatalities in the Shakahola Forest massacre in Kenya has risen to 240 following the discovery on Monday of two human skeletons connected to Paul Mackenzie.
The officers struggled to determine the gender of the remains because of how they had decomposed.
The 123 bodies excavated in Phase 2 will be subjected to an autopsy by the forensic team, according to Coast Regional chief Rhoda Onyancha, who stated that the operation is still ongoing.
While the Senate Ad hoc committee on proliferation of religious organisations was in town on Saturday, led by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana, who visited the gravesites, three bodies were discovered inside the Shakahola forest.
Two of the remains were dismembered, and one of them was a woman who had reached adulthood. One of the remains was covered in a Maasai bedsheet, which shocked the Senate Committee.
“We want to say that even as we are living today, some more bodies were found. We have come face-to-face with the death of our people. We have come face-to-face with skeletons,” said Mungatana.
The team that is tasked with looking into the Shakahola mass murders also toured Bethlehem village, an area noted to be Mackenzie’s headquarters.
“We have also visited a mass grave that, as we are informed, was carrying about 67 people who have been exhumed, and that particular place was called Bethlehem,” added Mungatana.
They also managed to visit Galilaya, which is where Mackenzie’s home is, among other places.
The cult leader is said to have implemented punishment and judgment for individuals who disobeyed his radical doctrines here in Galilaya.
The committee suggested that the government send more people to the search and rescue team during the visit.
According to Mungatana, the committee would be open to hearing from Kenyans so that the Senate may devise measures to control the freedom of religion.
Eddy Okech, a senator from Migori, claimed that there was a need to expand the number of rescue and search workers since they were understaffed.
Nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda requested that the Lango Baya Police Station, the closest administrative facility serving Shakahola, be outfitted.
On Friday, the Senate committee met the security team, religious leaders, and representatives from Non-Governmental Organisations on their fact-finding mission in relation to the Shakahola mass murders.
“We cannot allow people to die because of one person who confuses the citizens in the name of worship,” said Mungatana.
