Siaya — Benson Mutimba, who works as a Jua kali artisan in Siaya, says Paul McKenzie has been a source of pain to him and his family for the last four years.
For four years the father of six, has been battling to save his family from the Malindi based doomsday cult that at one point had taken four of his sons captive.
To the 45 year old Jua Kali man, the ongoing horror at Shakahola village in Malindi where tens of bodies are being exhumed from graves and emaciated people being rescued from the yoke of pastor Mackenzie is an answer to prayers he had made to God to save innocent children and their parents from the stranglehold of the cult.
Mutimba, who hails from Mumias in Kakamega county but a resident of Siaya says that he cried to God when he lost one of his sons, a former captive of the pastor's teachings who was rescued from the cult but continued suffering the effects until he lost his life at the Siaya county referral hospital in march this year.
It dates back to 2019 when his eldest son Felix Juma, then a student at Kibabii University, came back from school and began talking negatively about the education system as well as the jobs that his parents did.
He would go back to school late and behave in a manner that suggested he was no longer interested in continuing with his tertiary education.
The same year, he convinced his three other brothers to join him and they all traveled to the coastal town of Malindi.
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When he contacted his eldest son, he was shocked to learn that his three children had joined their brother in coast to receive the word of "God" at the Good News International Church presided over by Pastor McKenzie.
Though he succeeded in bringing his children back, this was the beginning of another battle of bringing his children back psychologically.
When he thought that he had won the battle that threatened to separate him from his sons, the second phase was , unknown to him, knocking.
In the year 2021, his eldest son abandoned school again and opted to join pastor McKenzie in Malindi.
This happened after he had undergone the counseling sessions and therapies that were prescribed.
This would be the beginning of the second phase of the battle he had fought earlier that led to closure of the church in 2019.
And in March this year, one of his younger sons, a standard eight candidate who had just registered for this year's Kenya certificate for primary education (KCPE) also sneaked out quietly to rejoin his elder brother at the Doomsday cult.
His wife, Esther Mukungu, also called on the government to step up and rescue the two boys who went back to Pastor McKenzie. - Kna
