I was tired of him! Dan Mackenzie opens up on life under his father’s teachings

Dan Mackenzie says his childhood was marked by fear, beatings and extreme religious demands that pushed him to walk away from his father, controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie.

Now 24, Dan has revealed that he was forced to go without food and water for an entire week when he was 12 and beaten for nearly three hours by church members for refusing to attend a service, experiences he says left him determined to escape the religious teachings that shaped his early life.

Dan’s account comes as the High Court’s ruling against his father and 28 other accused persons in the Shakahola murder case brings renewed attention to the suffering linked to the Good News International Church.

The young man was among those who waited for more than five hours at the court as Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache delivered the verdict at the Mombasa Law Courts on Monday. Mackenzie and the other accused persons had been facing 191 counts of murder over the deaths linked to the Shakahola tragedy.

Speaking after the ruling, Dan welcomed the decision, saying it offered hope to families who lost their relatives in the forest.

“It’s a relief… justice has happened to the victims,” he said after the judgement.

Beyond the court case, Dan’s account sheds light on the personal experiences he says drove him away from his father’s religious group. He says he and his five siblings eventually escaped the environment in which they had been raised and were rescued before being taken to a children’s rescue centre.

Dan believes his decision to leave helped him avoid the fate that befell hundreds of followers who remained in Shakahola forest.

“I have been a victim too for what he was doing in Shakahola…that’s why I didn’t end up there because I was tired of him,” he says.

He recalled being subjected to prolonged fasting while still a child, saying the practice was imposed on him despite his age. He also alleged that church members used physical violence to force him to comply with their religious demands.

“I was forced, when I was 12, to fast for a whole week…I was beaten by those church members for almost three hours just to attend a church service,” he recalls.

Dan said the conflict between him and his father deepened when he refused to join him at the church in Shakahola forest. The forest later became the scene of mass deaths involving hundreds of followers, among them 191 children.

According to Dan, his refusal to follow his father’s teachings eventually led Mackenzie to disown him, leaving him to find a way to survive without his father’s support.

He said he turned to boda boda riding in Malindi to earn a living after being left to fend for himself.

“He just gave up on me and I said I’m on my own…nimekuwa nikiishi vizuri na wat una wanasema hiyo ni mambo ya babako, sio yako,” he says.

Dan has since sought to build his life away from his father’s religious activities, maintaining that he should not be judged for the actions attributed to Mackenzie.

Meanwhile, families affected by the Shakahola deaths are calling for more than the court verdict, urging the government to ensure that Mackenzie takes responsibility for the losses and suffering they have endured.

The families want compensation for the harm caused by the deaths of their loved ones, as they continue to seek justice following the court’s decision.

Mackenzie and the 28 other accused persons were found guilty in the ruling delivered by Justice Kavedza-Mochache at the Mombasa Law Courts on Monday.

For Dan, the verdict is both a legal development in a case that has drawn widespread attention and a moment that brings back the experiences he says he endured before breaking away from his father’s teachings. His account also highlights the challenges he faced after leaving the church, including being disowned and having to earn his own living.

As the families continue to demand compensation, Dan’s recollections provide a personal perspective on the wider Shakahola tragedy and the impact he says his father’s religious practices had on his own childhood.