A Safaricom SIM card registered in the name of a prisoner serving a 50-year sentence at Shimo La Tewa Maximum Security Prison was used in a mobile phone linked to controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie, the Mombasa High Court has heard.
The revelation emerged yesterday during the ongoing trial of Mackenzie and seven co-accused persons over the Kwa Binzaro massacre in Kilifi County, where the remains of 28 people were exhumed from shallow graves.
The court heard that the SIM card belonged to Kalume Kitsao Rimba, who admitted retaining SIM cards while in prison but denied using them.
The possession of mobile phones and SIM cards by prisoners is prohibited under prison regulations governing the possession of unauthorised items within correctional facilities.
Testifying before Lady Justice Wendy Kagendo, Rimba, 41, denied having any direct association with Mackenzie, saying he only knew the preacher through media reports about the Shakahola deaths.
Led in his testimony by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Mr. Frankline Sirima, Rimba denied meeting or interacting with Mackenzie, who is also remanded at Shimo La Tewa prison.
Rimba, who is serving a 50-year sentence after pleading guilty to drug trafficking in 2024, told the court he registered five Safaricom numbers in his name to build his M-Shwari portfolio and access mobile loans.
He insisted the numbers had been registered legitimately.
The witness recalled prison officers searched his cell on 20th September 2025, and recovered two Bibles containing handwritten papers bearing names and telephone contacts. He said officers subsequently informed him that one of his SIM cards had been used to transfer money to Mackenzie who was in the same prison.
A further search the following day led to the recovery of two SIM cards, which Rimba said he had retained since his arrest in March 2024.
Although he denied using the cards to make or receive calls or conduct mobile money transactions while in prison, Rimba disclosed that he had occasionally lent one of the SIM cards to a fellow inmate, Charles Kalume, whenever the latter borrowed money from him to make telephone calls.
He added that Kalume would also borrow mobile phone handsets from other inmates.
The prosecution told court that Mackenzie used mobile numbers registered in other people’s names to communicate with his co-accused, allegedly instructing them to intensify doomsday preaching and encourage followers in Kwa Binzaro to fast, resulting in 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 regarding searches conducted at Shimo La Tewa Maximum Security Prison.
Mnjala told the court that officers conducted surprise searches targeting inmates, including suspects in the Shakahola murder cases, after receiving intelligence that prohibited items, among them mobile phones and SIM cards, were being kept in prison cells.
The searches led to the recovery of plastic containers, boxes, nails, a mobile phone and ropes from different cells. Another officer recovered a separate Itel handset during the operation.
Chikuta, the 50th prosecution witness, testified that impromptu searches conducted on 30thAugust and September 19, 2025, resulted in the recovery of mobile phones and SIM cards from inmates.
He further told the court that on 20th September 2025, he witnessed Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers search Mackenzie’s cell, recovering 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.
Hearing continues.
