Mackenzie’s Deputy Smart Mwakalama Sentenced To 160 Years Over Shakahola Massacre

Pastor Paul Mackenzie’s accomplice, Smart Deri Mwakalama, has been sentenced to 160 years in prison over the Shakahola massacre.

The ruling was delivered on Friday, November 6, 2026, by Lady Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache at the High Court in Mombasa.

Mwakalama, who was Mackenzie’s deputy pastor, secretary and second-in-command at Good News International Ministries, was convicted alongside Mackenzie and 28 co-accused on October 19, 2026, on 191 counts of murder.

The court found that Mwakalama transported followers to Shakahola Forest, relayed Mackenzie’s instructions, apprehended escapees and supervised burials.

For sentencing, the court divided the 191 murder counts into two categories.

Mwakalama was handed 80 years for the 183 counts of murder by starvation, to run concurrently. He was handed a further 80 years for the eight counts of murder by direct homicide involving child victims, also to run concurrently.

The two blocks were ordered to run consecutively, bringing his aggregate sentence to 160 years.

Mackenzie, meanwhile, was sentenced to 200 years in prison.

He was handed 100 years for the 183 counts of murder by starvation, covering one adult victim and 182 child victims, to run concurrently.

He was handed a further 100 years for the eight counts of murder by direct homicide involving child victims, also to run concurrently.

The two blocks were ordered to run consecutively, bringing his total to 200 years.

Justice Kavedza declined to impose the death penalty, even though the prosecution had sought it for Mackenzie and life imprisonment for 27 of his co-accused. She said she had considered probation reports and the victims’ report.

The case stemmed from deaths at Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County between January 2021 and September 2023, where followers were directed to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus.

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