Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro has thrown a spanner in the works after revealing Pastor Paul Mackenzie does not own the Shakahola land where decomposing bodies were found.

In an interview on Citizen Tv on Tuesday, Mung’aro said the 800-acre plot in Shakahola was part of Phase 3 of the Chakama Settlement Scheme but had been grabbed by shifty people.

This revelation by the county boss comes after 90 decomposing bodies of Mackenzie’s followers, who had starved to death, were recovered by police during a heavy operation.

“That land which Mackenzie is occupying is not his; we have three schemes in that area which were initially grabbed by some individuals from the Chakama ranchers,” said Mung’aro.

The governor revealed that land in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Chakama Settlement Scheme, which had previously been allegedly grabbed, had already been recovered.

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“When I was Malindi MP, we managed to recover phase 1 which is about 52,000 acres. We recovered phase 2 around five years ago. The area he is occupying is Chakama 3, which is currently being contested by people who grabbed it,” he revealed.

However, Mung’aro shifted the blame to the security agencies, which fall under the national government, for the Shakahola massacre believed to have gone on unabated for many years.

“The national government should be held responsible, not the county government. The accountability should be asked to the security teams.

“We have intelligence on the ground the chiefs, the assistant chiefs who are not under county government and all of them were saying we did not even know ourselves.”

Security agencies at the scene of crime on Tuesday unearthed 17 more bodies from the shallow graves in the death ranch raising the total number of starvation cult deaths to 90.