Makenzi's pointman confesses to killing 191 people in Shakahola massacre
Crime and Justice
By
Joackim Bwana
| Jan 19, 2026
Controversial preacher Paul Makenzi when he appeared before Justice Diana Mochache at the High Court in Mombasa on January 16, 2026. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]
A man charged alongside controversial preacher Paul Makenzi over the Shakahola massacre has confessed to killing 191 people.
In a shocking confession, Enos Amanya, who was also a grave digger, entered a plea bargain with the prosecution and admitted to the 191 charges of murder.
Amanya pleaded guilty to the murder charges before Justice Diana Mochache and is set for sentencing after the State presents a probation report in February.
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Amanya was charged alongside Makenzi and 28 others with the murder of 191 people in Shakahola between January 2021 and September 2023.
The 51-year-old father of seven revealed that he previously used to live in Nairobi and used to attend a Pentecostal church. He said he had ambitions of becoming a pastor, and even started a church in his house.
Amanya said that, prior to Shakahola, he was a successful businessman in garbage collection around Nairobi, bought a plot and built a house in Kasarani.
He said his wife introduced him to Makenzi in 2019 and he was intrigued by the preacher’s teaching that spoke of Jesus’ second coming and how education and health were not the way of the Lord.
Amanya testified that he decided to call Makenzi and shortly joined him in Eldoret, where the latter was having seminars.
He talked of how Makenzi had initially asked his followers, through his Time TV, to relocate to the wilderness (jangwani), which at the time was in one’s heart but later turned out to be Shakahola.
Amanya said he wanted to relocate to his rural home because of the moral decay in Nairobi but was informed that Makenzi was selling plots in Shakahola. In November 2020 he packed up, sold his plot in Kasarani at Sh700,000, paid all his debts and paid dowry before relocating to Shakahola with his wife, seven children and his brother, David Amanya.
In July 2022, Amanya testified, Makenzi said he had a message from Jesus that people should start fasting until they see Him.
“I was in the security team that was to guard against intruders. During the day, my role was digging graves and burying. We also had bouncers who dealt with any person defying orders or declining to fast,” Amanya told the court.
He also said his son was the first to die when the children began fasting.
“As time progressed, Pastor Makenzi declared that the way to go to heaven was by kicks and fist fights. The bouncers started tying those declining to offer their bodies. The binding was done using binding wires and a people were tied to a tree till death,” said Amanya in his confession tendered in court.
Amanya painted a picture of people dying in numbers and being buried day and night until word got out to outsiders. As a result, the villagers invaded Shakahola and forced Makenzi’s followers deep into the forest that stands inside Chakama ranch.
He said Makenzi’s two children had refused to accompany him to Shakahola and remained in Malindi.
While pleading to the charges, the court heard the names of 11 murdered children. The other victims were identified by initials, gender and grave sites where their bodies were exhumed.
Amanya, who was one of the closest followers of Makenzi, entered a plea bargain with the State to testify against Makenzi and his co-accused.
Amanya had written several letters to Justice Mochache seeking to confess about the killings in Shakahola.
On Thursday, Mochache directed that Amanya record his detailed confession before a chief inspector after the prosecution objected to his earlier confession.