A Safaricom SIM card registered to an inmate serving a 50-year prison sentence was allegedly used in a mobile phone linked to controversial preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, the Mombasa High Court has heard.
The evidence emerged during the ongoing trial of Mackenzie and seven co-accused persons over the Kwa Binzaro killings in Kilifi County, where the remains of 28 people were exhumed from shallow graves.
Testifying before Justice Wendy Kagendo, 41-year-old Kalume Kitsao Rimba denied having any direct association with Mackenzie, saying he only knew the preacher through media reports about the Shakahola deaths.
Rimba, who is serving a 50-year sentence after pleading guilty to drug trafficking in 2024, told the court that he had registered five Safaricom numbers in his name to build his M-Shwari portfolio and access mobile loans.
He admitted retaining SIM cards while in prison but denied using them to make or receive calls or conduct mobile money transactions. He also insisted that the numbers had been registered legitimately.
The witness said prison officers searched his cell on September 20, 2025, and recovered two Bibles containing handwritten papers with names and telephone contacts. He said officers later informed him that one of his SIM cards had been used to transfer money to Mackenzie, who is also being held at Shimo La Tewa Maximum Security Prison.
A further search the following day led to the recovery of two SIM cards, which Rimba said he had kept since his arrest in March 2024.
Rimba also disclosed that he occasionally lent one of the SIM cards to a fellow inmate, Charles Kalume, when he borrowed money from him to make telephone calls. He added that Kalume would also borrow mobile phone handsets from other inmates.
The prosecution told the court that Mackenzie allegedly used mobile numbers registered in other people’s names to communicate with his co-accused. He is accused of instructing them to intensify doomsday preaching and encourage followers in Kwa Binzaro to fast, allegedly leading to deaths.
Mackenzie was recently convicted alongside 28 co-accused persons in connection with the Shakahola massacre, in which 191 people, including 190 children, died.
The court also heard testimony from prison officers James Mnjala and Sergeant Stanislous Bongo Chikuta about searches conducted at Shimo La Tewa Maximum Security Prison.
Mnjala told the court that officers carried out surprise searches targeting inmates, including suspects in the Shakahola murder cases, after receiving intelligence that prohibited items such as mobile phones and SIM cards were being kept in prison cells.
The searches resulted in the recovery of plastic containers, boxes, nails, a mobile phone and ropes from different cells. Another officer recovered a separate Itel handset.
Chikuta, the 50th prosecution witness, testified that impromptu searches conducted on August 30 and September 19, 2025, led to the recovery of mobile phones and SIM cards from inmates.
He further told the court that on September 20, 2025, he witnessed Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers search Mackenzie’s cell, where they recovered a notebook, handwritten notes and a Bible.
According to Chikuta, the notebook contained telephone numbers and identification details recorded under the name of prosecution witness Emily Achieng, who testified virtually from Kisumu.
Chikuta also participated in the search of Rimba’s cell, where officers recovered two Bibles and handwritten papers bearing names and telephone contacts. He told the court that he witnessed and documented the recovery.
The hearing continues.
