The Mwakenya Movement (Muungano wa Wazalendo wa Kenya/ Union of Patriotic Kenyans) was an underground socialist movement in Kenya in the 1980s formed to fight for multi-party democracy. Background When Daniel arap Moi became president of Kenya in 1978, many prominent politicians and academics accused him of corruption, nepotism and embezzlement of public funds. After the failed coup d'état of 1982, Moi seized the opportunity to make Kenya a de jure one party state. The country had been a de facto one party state since 1969. This move was met by opposition and university campuses, especially the University of Nairobi, became hotbeds of political activities advocating for the repeal of section 2A of the constitution which had made Kenya a de jure single party state. Initially, Mwakenya was not a clandestine organization. Its members advocated for the opening up of democratic space in Kenya through public lectures and issuing of leaflets including Mpatanishi and Mzalendo. These lectures and leaflets served the purpose of explaining what they (Mwakenya members) felt was wrong in the country's political sphere. However, after the government began cracking down on its members, the organization went underground. Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o was the movement's spokesman. In the mid 1970s, underground movements started cropping up with publications, such as Chache Group's Independent Kenya, being their main tool. This led to the eventual uprising of the December 12th Movement and its Pambana publication. It is from the December 12th Movement that Mwakenya rose. Arrests Soon after the coup, the Moi regime, through the Special Branch, launched a hunt for all people it considered traitors and who it believed had had a hand in the attempted coup. Most of these were university lecturers. Some of the first people to be arrested include Maina wa Kinyatti, Prof. Katama Mkangi, Wanyiri Kihoro and Paddy Onyango. Plain clothes police officers and even university students were recruited by the government to monitor what was taught in classrooms. The main focus was on university lecturers who taught Marxist-Lenninist theories - a subject the government believed was being advocated by Mwakenya's members. Those arrested were tortured and subjected to various human rights violations until they accepted that they were Mwakenya members and gave information to the authorities on other members. This was corroborated by Moi when, at a student gathering in London in 1989, said, "We only torture detained members of the disruptive dissident group, Mwakenya.