• 21-year-old Dan Mackenzie, a boda boda rider in Malindi town is the firstborn son of Paul Mackenzie
• He says he has known his father all through as a role model, kind to a fault and incapable of murder
• He has also condemned vandalism on the perimeter wall of the family home by irate residents whom he accused of looting
More than 100 kilometres away from the mass graves of Shakahola in the heart of Malindi town lies Furunzi village.
Dan Mackenzie, son of controversial Pastor Paul Mackenzie.
Here, we meet 21-year-old Dan Mackenzie, a boda boda rider in Malindi town and the firstborn son of Paul Mackenzie.
He welcomes us to his home saying after the Good News International Church was closed in 2019, his father quit preaching and took up farming at Shakahola. Before he left, Paul Mackenzie left his son in charge of his Malindi town home.
And since late 2019, he has been living here, together with his grandmother and his stepmother – his father’s third wife Rhoda Maweu, who is in police custody.
“Alikuwa anatuletea vyakula vyakula vya shambani manake huko alikuwa na kisima,” Dan says of his father.
He says he has known his father all through as a role model, kind to a fault and incapable of murder.
Controversial Pastor Paul Mackenzie
“Babangu hana makosa,” he says.
According to Dan, his father does not have any theological training and studied up to form four at Lukore secondary school in Kwale before moving to Malindi town as a taxi driver.
In his son’s eyes, it has never been mandatory for Mackenzie’s followers to follow his radical preachings against education as well as teachings on fasting that have ended tragically for some of his followers.
“Nimefika Form One na niliacha shule mimi mwenyewe sikulazimishwa na mtu…na baba alipofunga kanisa mimi pia sikuwahi jihusisha na kanisa na alienda huko peke yake,” he says.
The 21-year-old firstborn from MacKenzie’s first wife who died in 2010 has also condemned vandalism on the perimeter wall of the family home by irate residents whom he accused of looting.
“Walivunja vunja wakachukuwa pikipiki mohogo,” says Dan.
