A Marimanti court on Wednesday, September 4, jailed 46 members of the Kabonokia sect for between six and 12 months after they declined to be counted in the recent census exercise.
The sect members had hit the headlines late August when they refused to be counted saying that the census was a satanic exercise and they had already been counted in heaven.
"They argued that their belief does not allow them to participate in such worldly matters," Tharaka Nithi Deputy County Commissioner, Patrick Chege said at the time.
Other members of the Kabonokia sect had allegedly threatened enumerators during the pre-listing and agreed to be counted after receiving stern warnings from the authorities.
The jailed members were charged at Marimanti Law Courts with the offense of obstructing the census exercise.
Members of the Kabonokia sect have several times been in the limelight for rejecting government services, including vaccination exercises, registering for identity cards and even going to school and hospitals.
On August 28, Chege confirmed that the members who had been arrested were from Gatue, Kathangacini, Iruduni and Kirudi locations, and all are confirmed to be attending a church at Gatithini market in the same sub-county.
"They are against all public exercises but it is early time they change or they will all be arrested and charged at a court of law because these are criminals," he warned.
The Statistics (Amendment) Act (2019,) signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta in July 2019 prescribes a penalty of Ksh500,000 for any person charged with obstructing census officials.
The penalty was later reviewed to Ksh100,000.
The census exercise was concluded on August 31, with preliminary results indicating that over 95% of Kenyans had been counted by then.
