Mustafa al-Karim

Sizwe Oluwakanyinsola (12th November 1912 - 17th August 1997, aged 85) was a Kenyan revolutionary and political leader who, after an armed struggle, served as the first President of Kenya from its independence in 1964 to his death in 1993. He is considered the founding father of the modern Kenyan state with his political theories being known as Kenyan Socialism.

Born during the Albish occupation of East Africa in a Kikuyu community, Oluwakanyinsola was educated by Christian missionaries in his youth, eventually travelling overseas to Albion to learn law before being transferred via a Comintern program to study at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow. It was there that Oluwakanyinsola formulated his first political ideas.

Oluwakanyinsola returned to Kenya in 1938, forming the Communist Party of Kenya (more commonly referred to as the CKK), an anti-colonist communist party intent on ending British rule in Kenya and establishing a federation split on ethnic lines. A successful political campaign in 1963 enabled the CKK to gain 91 seats in the autonomous government of Kenya beating the Kenyan African National Union and the Kenyan African Democratic Union. Shortly after gaining this victory Oluwakanyinsola renounced Albish sovereignty over Kenya, forcibly ousting Albish forces from Kenya and declaring a people's republic. Oluwakanyinsola named himself as the first president of Kenya.

After independence Oluwakanyinsola started to transform Kenya into a communist state modelled on the Soviet Union. His policies of agricultural collectivisation, Umoja, and mass political repression had as many as 2 million people killed, but during his tenure as President Kenya had become one of the most developed countries in Africa economically with a high GDP and relative political and ethnic stability.

Oluwakanyinsola's health started to decline in 1988, but remained in power as president. The collapse of the Soviet Union saw increased international pressure applied to Oluwakanyinsola, but he refused to reform. In August 1997 Oluwakanyinsola died of heart failure at the age of 85, being succeeded by his son Abidemi Oluwakanyinsola.

Ruling Kenya for 32 years Oluwakanyinsola's legacy has remained controversial. To many of his followers Oluwakanyinsola remains an anti-imperialist, humanitarian patriot who supported Kenyan independence and the welfare of the Kenyan people. Compared to many other African dictators Oluwakanyinsola himself was largely deemed to be a staunch opponent of corruption. Marxists around the world lauder him as a model communist who brought prosperity and stability to an infamously unstable region of the globe through the teachings of Marx. In contrast, Oluwakanyinsola's critics maintain that he was a cruel dictator whose legacy has resulted in stagnation in Kenya, as well as accuse him of encouraging racism, nepotism and genocide in his long rule. Oluwakanyinsola's body is currently on display in the Sizwe Oluwakanyinsola Mausoleum in Nairobi.