Heartbroken Father Asks: ‘Where Are My Children?’ After They End Up In Shakahola

Summary:

• Missing children: A father in Kakamega is desperately searching for his four missing children who disappeared with their mother, who later joined a dangerous cult in Shakahola.
• Cult involvement: The mother, Millicent Maurine Ajai, was rescued by police from the notorious Good News International Church in Malindi, owned by cult leader Paul Mackenzie.
• Ongoing search: The children’s father and grandfather are in Malindi, tirelessly searching for clues to the missing children’s location, while the family fears they may have become victims of the cult’s lethal practices.

A father from Kakamega is frantically searching for his four children, aged between two and 12 years, who disappeared along with their mother four weeks ago. The family fears that the children were led to Shakahola for a dangerous cult pilgrimage.

John Muholo’s residence in Eshihaka village, Musanda location, Mumias West, is filled with anxious relatives as the search for the missing children persists.

The children’s mother, Millicent Maurine Ajai, was recently rescued by police during an operation at the Good News International Church farm in Malindi. The church property is owned by notorious cult leader Paul Mackenzie.

A Sudden Departure

Ajai informed her husband, Antony Omuholo, that she intended to visit her mother in Siaya County before leaving her Kaloleni, Nairobi, home with all four children. She vowed to return after the holidays, but she never did. The children’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and Ajai went to Shakahola in Malindi County to participate in a perilous fasting ritual, hoping to encounter God.

The Omuholo family is deeply concerned that the children might be among the numerous victims of Pastor Paul Mackenzie’s lethal cult practices.

A Troubling Past

Scolastica Siria, the children’s paternal grandmother, revealed that Ajai joined the controversial cult in 2018 after being introduced by a neighbor in Kaloleni. Siria recounted a 2018 incident in which Ajai refused to have her children vaccinated against polio, leading to her arrest and the children being placed under the authorities’ watch.

The Good News International Church allegedly assisted Ajai in her release from prison six months later.

Relentless Search for the Lost

Upon discovering her daughter-in-law’s involvement with the cult, Siria urged her son, Omuholo, to file a police report and travel to Malindi to aid in the investigation. Maurine, Omuholo’s wife, was discovered in a coma, having lost her five-month pregnancy. When questioned about her children, she claimed to have left them with another woman at the cult who was not fasting.

Willis Omuholo, the children’s grandfather, and father Antony Omuholo are in Malindi, tirelessly searching for any clues to the missing children’s location.

“I am afraid that my son’s children were killed because it is said that children were being forced to fast and those who could not were beaten to death. Some narratives are that a mother kills her children before she commences the fast,” Ms. Siria shared her fears.