Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki is on Thursday expected in Malindi to oversee the commencement of the second phase of postmortem examinations of 129 additional bodies exhumed from the Shakahola mass graves.
Kindiki will later visit the public information, tracing and social support centre in the area.
The centre is helping families and friends whose kin are missing or have been identified after exhumation at the forest.
The CS will also talk to the search and rescue operation team that is in the area, officials said.
He will later address the media to give an update on the exhumation and search and rescue mission.
Officials had by May 24 exhumed and recovered 240 bodies from the Shakahola Forest, Kilifi County, on land linked to cult leader Paul Mackenzie.
Mackenzie is being investigated for crimes including aiding suicide, after allegedly convincing members of his Good News International Church to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.
The cult leader and tens of suspects have been arrested amid investigations and a court case to establish what happened in Shakahola.
Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said 32 suspects are in custody.
Onyancha further reported a total of 91 people have been rescued from starvation so far.
The number of people reported missing stood at 613 as of Thursday.
She also said that 14 victims had been reunited with their families and that the number of DNA samples collected stood at 93.
The exhumation of bodies was suspended to allow an autopsy on 129 recovered so far in the second phase.
The search for and rescue of survivors within Shakahola Forest and the Chakama Ranch generally will continue uninterrupted and will be extended into the edges of the neighbouring Tsavo East National Park in the coming days using ground and drone search, he added.
“Grave search and exhumation shall resume on conclusion of phase two postmortem exercise,” he said.
Mackenzie and tens of suspects have been arrested amid investigations and a court case to establish what happened in Shakahola.
A Mombasa court allowed an application by the police to have the Shakahola cult leader Mackenzie and his wife Rhoda Maweu detained for 30 days.
Sixteen other people suspected of working in cahoots with the infamous pastor will also be held for the same period.
Shanzu Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda ruled that the respondents’ safety and security may be at risk if released on bond. Police have identified 20 new grave sites which they are working on.
The area has been cordoned off and declared a disturbed.
The entire 50,000-acre Chakama ranch remains a security area and scene of crime with limited access for all persons who are unauthorised. Dozens more bodies are believed to be buried in shallow graves therein.
