MWAKENYA: UNFINISHED REVOLUTION BOOK LAUNCH - NAIROBI, KENYA

• published: 19 Feb 2014
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After the preface and introduction, Part One deals with birth of the Kenyan underground movement in the mid 1970s around the time of the brutal and grisly murder of the populist parliamentarian JM Kariuki by assassins widely believed to be working at the behest of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Drawing its inspiration and legacy from the Mau Mau struggle of the 1950s, the December Twelve Movement (DTM) derived its name from the date Kenya achieved flag independence, in actuality the date when the freedom aspirations of Kenyans were betrayed and neo-colonialism ushered in. Maina informs his readers that DTM in turn was the baby of the clandestine Workers' Party of Kenya whose founding leaders were Maina wa Kinyatti himself, Kamoji Wachiira, Adhu Awiti, Amin Kassam, Koigi wa Wamwere and later, Willy Mutunga (the current Chief Justice) Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Alamin Mazrui, Edward Oyugi, Shiraz Durrani, Sultan Somjee, Ngotho wa Kariuki, the late Ngugi wa Mirii, Kuria Muriimi, Kariuki Kiboi and others. The fledgling underground movement took an anti-imperialist, pro-socialist stance, ideology anchored in Marxism-Leninism Maoist Thought. Part Two which spans 137 pages, showcases the DTM publications from 1974 to 1985, reproducing several copies of Mwanguzi, Pambana, Mpatanishi, occasional anonymous leaflets and other communiqués and pronunciamentoes from the movement. Part Three provides a selection of Mwakenya documents covering the period from 1987 to 2001 including internal position papers, statements, study group observations and reflections. Part Four lays bare in the public domain in the first time outside the close circle of Kenyan exiles and activists in Britain and the United States, excerpts from the archives of Ukenya, formed in the UK in the 1980s to confront the Moi dictatorship. Among the UKENYA documents is to be found its 1987 Manifesto; a public address in London by UKENYA Chairperson Yusuf Hassan (currently the MP for Kamukunji) and a speech delivered by Abdilatif Abdalla (renowned Kenyan poet) at the 7th Pan African Congress held in Kampala in April 1994. Part Five, beginning on page 417, is a reproduction of the 2001 Mwakenya Harare Declaration pledging that it was a year dedicated to the movement's renewal. That document among other things, resolved to "clarify the name of the party and call it DTM-Mwakenya so as to reflect correctly, the history, continuity and the main streams that have gone into making it". Part Six is some kind of appendix consisting of the DTM-Mwakenya Study Guide broken down to organizational aspects like the concepts of the unity of theory and practice; democratic centralism; criticism and self-criticism; dialectical and historical materialism; classes in history; the National Question; Religion; the Woman Question; On the State; Historical Aspects; Africa and Kenya. The launch of Kenya's history masterpiece by the leading liberation scholar which brought together the country's heroes and sheroes who never say die. The book, selling at Ksh.1200 was launched at the Kenya National Theatre on 18th February 2014 as part of the events to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the hanging by the colonial government of Kenya's foremost freedom fighter the Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi. The book is available at the following bookshops: Prestige Booksellers (Mama Ngina Street (next to 20th Century Cinema) Bookpoint Ltd (Loans House along Moi Avenue) Bookstop, 2nd floor, Yaya Centre, Argwings Kodhek Road