Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has told opposition leader Raila Odinga that Shakahola is a restricted area for security reasons.
The CS said they have gazetted Shakahola as a scene of crime and will not allow even the Press to take pictures of exhumation of bodies as the government will be sued for violating human rights.
Kindiki said the area is equally restricted to politicians and saying government will not allow the matter to be politicised.
“We cannot mix national security with politics, we understand politicians and they play a key role in our democracy, but we cannot mix national security and politics,” Kindiki said.
The CS spoke at Chaaria Catholic Church, Central Imenti constituency Meru County on Sunday.
Raila was on Friday denied entry into Shakahola forest in Kilifi County.
He said he spoke to Kindiki on phone following the stand off with police but the CS told him to wait.
During the visit, Raila hit out at President William Ruto for forming a commission of inquiry saying the president has no mandate to do that according to the Constitution.
The Azimio leader said he will move to court to challenge that decision.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Church has been accused of brainwashing his followers into fasting to death as a guarantee to “meet Jesus.”
Postmortem results released by Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor indicated that some of the victims may have been strangled to death.
Kindiki said the Constitution grants the freedom of worship and as such, the government will not infringe on that freedom.
He said the government is not fighting the church as has been insinuated by some quarters.
“Surely those who are saying the government is fighting church do not know what they are talking about. How can one can hit people who refuse to fast and kill them, and he calls himself a man of God,” he said.
“We respect the Church and have no war with the church we are also Christians and will not fight with the church, but we are going to fight a few people who are using religion to manipulate and misuse the holy scripture to engage in illegal and unlawful activities,” the CS added.
He said they have so far recovered the remains of 112 people but there are still more bodies in the Shakahola Forest which will need to be exhumed in the coming days.
Kindiki commended the Catholic church for demonstrating good morals and development.
He said that the Catholic church and other churches has played a key role in helping the needy in the country.
“They have development projects hospitals and churches that help the community,”Kindiki said.
