SON DENOUNCES MACKENZIE, LABELS HIM A MURDERER

Dan Mackenzie, the son of controversial preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, has spoken out against his father’s teachings, recounting the abuse he says he suffered as a child while growing up in the religious movement linked to the Shakahola tragedy.

The 24-year-old made the revelations on Tuesday, October 20, a day after the High Court in Mombasa convicted his father and 28 co-accused of 191 counts of murder involving 190 children and one adult.

Speaking to journalists following the landmark ruling, Dan said he felt relieved by the verdict and believed justice had been served for the victims and their families.

He also openly condemned his father’s actions, describing him as responsible for the mass deaths linked to the movement.

“He was the leader, he was someone who they were looking up to. So he is a murderer of mass killing,” Dan said before the verdict was delivered, according to the BBC.

Dan’s criticism comes despite some followers continuing to defend the preacher, who has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings.

Recounting his own childhood, Dan said he was forced to fast for an entire week when he was 12 years old. He also described an incident in which he was beaten by members of his father’s church after resisting demands to attend a service.

“I was forced when I was young, when I was 12, to fast for a whole week,” he told journalists.

He alleged that the beating lasted nearly three hours and that he was stripped naked during the incident. His account did not establish that his father personally carried out the assault.

Dan said his experiences within the religious movement affected his education and childhood. After leaving school in Class Seven, he began working as a motorcycle taxi rider in Malindi to earn a living.

His relationship with his father eventually deteriorated, with Mackenzie reportedly telling him that he was on his own.

The two have since had a strained relationship. Dan disclosed that he had spoken to his father, who accused him of betrayal, although he said he did not understand the accusation and had nothing further to tell him.

The young man also revealed that five of his younger siblings, comprising three sisters and two brothers, had been rescued and were living at a rescue centre. He expressed hope that they would have an opportunity to rebuild their lives away from the environment in which they grew up.

Mackenzie established Good News International Ministries in 2003, attracting thousands of followers through sermons warning of the end of the world. He also operated Times TV, a station that broadcast his teachings from Malindi.

His doctrine discouraged formal education and modern medicine, which he portrayed as contrary to religious teachings. Digital identification documents were also condemned in his sermons.

After the church closed in 2019, Mackenzie moved to Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County and encouraged his followers to join him in the isolated settlement.

Prosecutors told the court that followers, including children, were subjected to a system of enforced fasting under the belief that they would meet Jesus. Those who resisted the instructions were allegedly beaten or forced to comply.

The prosecution also presented allegations that some parents were prevented from seeking medical treatment for their children and that mothers were discouraged from breastfeeding their newborns.

The crisis came to public attention in 2023 after reports of missing relatives and the discovery of deaths linked to starvation in Kilifi County. Subsequent investigations uncovered mass graves, leading to the recovery of more than 400 bodies from the forest.

In her judgment delivered on October 19, Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache found Mackenzie and 28 co-accused guilty of 191 counts of murder.

The judge described how followers regarded Mackenzie as “Jesus’s mouthpiece” and heard evidence that deaths in the forest were referred to as weddings with Jesus.

A former head of security at the settlement, Enos Amanya Ngala, also testified for the prosecution after entering a plea agreement, providing evidence about how the group operated.

Mackenzie and his co-accused had denied the murder charges, with the defence arguing that followers had chosen to fast out of religious conviction rather than being forced to die.

The convictions mark a major development in the Shakahola case, although separate proceedings involving allegations of terrorism, radicalisation and other offences remain ongoing.

Mackenzie and the 28 other convicted individuals are scheduled to be sentenced on November 6, 2026.