In 2023, several impactful news stories captivated the public's attention, spanning tragedies, pivotal political events, and compelling human interest occurrences.
The most significant among them was the Shakahola Massacre, involving cult leader Paul Mackenzie, who is now facing terrorism charges for indoctrinating his followers.
The media, known as society's mirror, played a key role in ensuring comprehensive coverage of these cases, contributing significantly to improving Kenyan society.
Kenyans.co.ke revisits the highlights from the past 365 days that gained nationwide attention.
Shakahola Massacre
Earlier this year, the nation was gripped by shock as multiple corpses were recovered from the secluded Shakahola area of Chakama ranch in Kilifi County.
The recovered bodies belonged to followers of the Good News International Ministries, led by the controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie.
Allegations surfaced that Mackenzie had established a cult-like following, persuading his believers to undergo fatal fasting rituals. It was later established that the pastor had misled his followers to believe that this would guarantee a place for them in heaven.
In response to this horrifying revelation, law enforcement swiftly cordoned off the area to initiate a comprehensive exhumation effort.
Simultaneously, the pastor and his wife were apprehended in connection with the murders.
President William Ruto condemned the atrocity as an act of terrorism and vowed that justice would be served.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, in a stern declaration, asserted that Mackenzie would be confined behind prison walls for the rest of his life in light of the massacre.
To date, the exhumation exercise has unearthed over 420 bodies from the Shakahola forest, bearing witness to the magnitude of the tragedy and the heinous actions perpetrated under the guise of religious devotion.
Ann Njeri Njoroge’s Abduction
Ann Njeri Njoroge gained nationwide attention following her mysterious disappearance shortly after she recorded a statement at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road.
At the centre of the mystery was her claim that senior government officials were planning to steal her consignment of fuel worth Ksh17 billion held at the Port of Mombasa.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir would later dispute this account insisting that the consignment belonged to Galana Energies Limited - one of the oil companies handpicked by the government to import fuel under the government-to-government fuel deal agreed with 2 Gulf firms.
Five days after her disappearance, she resurfaced in Mombasa in the company of her lawyer Cliff Ombeta. The businesswoman claimed she underwent torture as her abductors attempted to coerce her into publicly saying that the fuel belonged to another entity.
Lawyer Ombeta questioned why the government was frustrating Njoroge's efforts to secure the consignment.
The article brought into question Njoroge's role in the fuel importation deal with some hinting that the businesswoman was just a proxy in the scandal.
Observers questioned where the businesswoman got Ksh17 billion to import the fuel.
Azimio Anti-Government Protests
After opposition leader Raila Odinga and President William Ruto failed to agree on a raft of issues including the cost of living and auditing of the 2022 election results, the former premier called for protests which quickly became an avenue for Kenyans to vent their frustrations.
Unlike previous years where the protests were restricted to Raila's political bastion, this year's protests gained traction in more areas including Ukambani.
The protests quickly turned violent leading to the deaths of more than 100 Kenyans in different parts of the country leading to condemnation from human rights bodies such as Amnesty International.
The protests, also threatened national stability prompting religious leaders to step in and demand the two leaders to sit down and engage in dialogue.
Ruto and Raila have since ceded to the demands and have committed to implement a report authored by the National Dialogue Committee.
COB Arrest
In December, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o made headlines after she was arrested in Mombasa over four counts she allegedly committed in 2016.
The charges included; conspiracy to defraud, operating a Sacco without a licence, forgery and falsifying a document.
This elicited sharp criticism from opposition leaders who claimed that the government was attempting to force her out for constantly exposing graft within high government circles.
A Mombasa Court would later order her release on a Ksh500,000 cash bail.
KCPE blunders
Former Education Cabinet Secretaries Fred Matiang’i and the late Prof. George Magoha are widely credited with stamping out cheating in national examinations which for many years had compromised the integrity of the tests.
However this year, the release of the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam results was blotted by reports that they were marred with errors and some students receiving inaccurate results.
The whole episode began with candidates and students experiencing delays accessing their results via text.
Several students complained that they received the wrong results while others received grades for subjects they did not sit for.
Following the uproar, the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) explained that the errors were caused by technical challenges but assured students that the results on the KNEC portal were accurate.
Politicians also called out KNEC over the massive anomalies attributing them to poor quality work done by the contractor after the government awarded the contract to a firm based on Mombasa Road.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu later revealed that the Ministry was planning to move from the SMS channel of releasing results by developing a website where parents and candidates would receive results heading into the future.
