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{
"id": 1325535,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1325535/?format=api",
"text_counter": 964,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "report of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA). There were many challenges and delays and all we needed was to get the facts right for us to understand the delay in getting the DNA results. Up to now, there is still delay and relatives are yet to rest their beloved ones. We had a key witness, none other than Paul Mackenzi himself, but we still faced more challenges. When a member of our secretariat team went to the prison where Paul Mackenzie is to issue the first summons, he did not get a pass, but he was given a pass the second time he went there after we put out presser. He handed the summons to Paul Mackenzie through his lawyer. The challenge was that the timeline was short, the Committee was wrapping up its work and Paul Mackenzie did not appear before us. Some of the key witnesses like Pastor Ezekiel appeared, and the reason that the Committee went out of their way to visit Mavueni was because our time was lapsing and because this is going down in history, as a Committee, we needed to get our facts right because we had first-hand experience of the actual happenings at the Shakahola grounds. We had seen what the relatives of the victims were going through; I had personally seen the bodies and the conditions they were in. We had an opportunity to speak to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), to have in camera, all the videos. If you are human, if you are a leader, if you are a parent, and have an opportunity to see what truly transpired, you would go out of your way. That is what we did as a Committee. We went out of our way; we visited Mavueni to get to understand what was happening there. Yes, we communicated and mentioned our findings. As much as the Secretariat did not accompany us, we wanted to leave history, knowing that we had an opportunity to try and get our facts right. However, we did not find the graves; we did not find some of the things that had been alleged and so, everything still came back to this one man, who today is in prison. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is sad because looking at the cases that Mr. Mackenzie had been arrested for, the Judiciary was very lenient for the longest time because these issues had been coming, and he was granted very minimal fines of as little as Kshs10, 000, having in mind the weight of the cases that he had. Looking at the allegations of the murder of the children who had succumbed to starvation and suffocation, the court granted Mackenzie, a mere fine of Kshs10,000, and the man was free. This man continued with evil, if that is the best word. I would use the word because what he conducted was the highest level of evilness. We still do not understand how he was able to manipulate Kenyans. Some of these Kenyans were learned, had good jobs, and had good homes, but they would go and start thatching small houses to start new families. It was quite sad. Due to time constraints, I would want my colleagues to put a word into this. I would want to state that as a Committee, we have agreed that we are going to come up with a Bill on the regulations on churches to curb this madness that is there. There is a commercial way, evilness, radicalisation and indoctrination that is happening in this country. As a Committee, we have decided that we are going to pick up this Bill. I will not talk about it now at this time, but we will bring it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, just to finalise, we have mentioned that we would want Shakahola to be a memorial park in the future because what lies there is just darkness. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}