DEDAN KIMATHI IS KENYA'S FOUNDING FATHER

The British gave Kenya internal self rule on this day in 1963, before full flag independence a year later. Like many colonies, this turned out to be a sham with supposed independence merely consolidating the African colonial elite but changing little for the masses. One such case is that of one of Kenya's founders, Jomo Kenyatta.

In this video, the general secretary of Communist Party Marxist - Kenya, Brooker Omole makes the case for a different kind of founding father. Omole explains how the departure of the British was a clever ruse: first kill the revolutionary (Dedan Kimathi), then install the puppet (Jomo Kenyatta).

Omole argues that Kenyatta, owing to his privileged position was unfit to govern because he sought to assume the role of the colonial rulers rather than fundamentally change the system. Kimathi however, was a true champion of the people and their interests, which is why he was murdered. This is why Omole hails the latter as the real founding father of Kenya.

Kimathi’s fate was similar to that of DR Congo’s Patrice Lumumba and Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara - popular revolutionary leaders assassinated in the service of the capitalist West.

Video Credit: @lynnngugi