INTRODUCTION

In our view, Independence means self-determination and self-government. To be independent, a Government must have the autonomy of making decisions capable of advancing the welfare of all it's citizens. A country is independent if the Government has the ultimate power of controlling the country's resources and has the political and economic scope of utilising these resources without foreign interference. We take the position that Kenya is not yet an independent country and that Kenyans are currently bound by the chains of neo-colonialism and imperialist domination.

As a result of insatiable greed for free raw materials and captive markets for cheap British products after the industrial revolution, Kenya was colonised by the British who used the Bible and the pretext of "civilising the natives" to enslave Wanachi, grab vast pieces of fertile land, exploit cheap labour and to plunder the country's vast economic and natural resources. These savage acts culminated in the colonization of our country by Britain. A colonial bureaucratic structure mainly comprising of chiefs and tribal head-men was quickly erected by the white colonialists to help consolidate their control over the lives of the colonised Wananchi.

The anti-colonialist armed struggle which broke out during the colonial revolution in Kenya in the early 1950's, and which was waged by the Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau) under the astute command of Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi had, as it's principle task, the defeat of colonialism, the seizure of all land from the British land grabbers, the permanent seizure of political freedom and the establishment of economic independence. This was Mau Mau's revolutionary "Programme of action", a Programme which was also aimed at empowering Kenyans and putting the destiny of Kenya back on the hands of Wananchi. Unfortunately, this noble task of liberating the Nation from the fangs of thirsty British blood suckers ("white settlers") was never accomplished.

The colonial revolution was derailed because it was betrayed by home-guards, opportunists and reactionaries within and without the Mau Mau liberation movement. These dastards collaborated with the national enemy - the Colonial administration - to "negotiate" Kenya's independence, thereby laying the roots of neo-colonialism and imperialist domination under which more than 30 million Kenyans have and continue to suffer without recourse. We agree with every Kenyan who believes that it is "Not Yet Uhuru" (Not yet independence). We believe that all Kenyans who love their country have a duty to answer the historic call for the accomplishment of the “unfinished revolution” in our beloved Kenya.

In keeping with our rich heritage of resistance and struggle, and in the undying spirit of Mau Mau freedom fighters, Kenyans at home and abroad have continued to wage a protracted war against the diverse forces of imperialism in our country. These forces of plunder have, over the past 39 years, kept millions of Kenyans under mental and economic slavery, political and cultural dominance.

Underground liberation movements like Mwakenya, "clandestine" political parties, fighting organisations and other political groupings at home and in exile have formed an integral part of Kenya's history of resistance and struggle against both the Kenyatta and Moi dictatorships. These two dictatorships have represented and safeguarded imperialist interests in Kenya since the advent of "flag independence" in 1963.

The Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA) represents an Alliance of democratic forces whose main objective is the democratic overthrow of capitalism in Kenya and it's democratic replacement with a democratic socialist political system of Government. The Alliance seeks to popularise and establish an alternative socialist political thinking among the exploited, impoverished and poor majority of the Kenyan population whom alone, holds the means and the power to bring about revolutionary change necessary for Kenya's disentanglement from the political, social and economic quagmire in which the country is currently enmeshed.

Although an extremely rich country, Kenya's 39 years of experiment with capitalist ideas reads like a catalogue of huge political and economic catastrophes. Economic decline, run-away inflation, permanent unemployment, disintegration of the education system, breakdown of infrastructure, total collapse of the health care system, massive class differentiation, piling of foreign debts, abject poverty among the masses, high-level corruption by wealth grabbers, infectious land- grabbing by corrupt politicians and mafia-like political conspiracies by the wealthy capitalist ruling class are just but a few headlines in the "catalogue of political catastrophes" recorded during the Moi/KANU right-wing authoritarian dictatorship. We believe that a permanent solution to the crisis facing our country is deeply embedded in the superior ideas of Democratic socialism. Our task is to raise a strong socialist awareness/consciousness among Kenyan workers, peasants, students and the exploited majority in our country.

In the last decade, the collapse of Stalinist bureaucracies in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern block countries has probably been one of the most significant events in the International socialist movement. Events in the former Soviet Union not only undermined the ideas of socialism in the eyes of the International working class but also weakened the forces of socialism considerably. On the Kenyan front, many comrades in Kenya and abroad underwent through varying degrees of “ideological re-thinking”, a process which has since created significant changes and set backs in the course of the anti-imperialist struggle in our country.

The consequence of this change has, for example, seen some comrades betray the struggle by joining the Moi/KANU dictatorship while others are either collaborating with representatives of the national bourgeois in Kenya or have joined the bankrupted bourgeois opposition parties. A good number of resourceful comrades have also collapsed into passivity or isolated themselves by remaining politically unorganised. In the cause of time, KSDA will clarify the dynamic and complex character which the struggle against imperialism/neo- colonialism has assumed with the passage of time both at home and Internationally. Without such a clarification, it will be difficult to clear the confusion which has been brought about by the wreckage of the above mentioned historical developments.

We would like to encourage our readers to view this Programme as the general basis of our ideological thinking and political alternative. A good part of the Programme has already been published elsewhere in  documents which have, in the past, been circulated by Kenyan socialists who share in the revolutionary ideals of KSDA. We will also appreciate a critical reading of the Programme and welcome proposals and new ideas on how the document can be sharpened for maximum political impact and results. Our country must be free!

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