Born in Mobassa, Kenya, almost eight decades ago, Abdilatif was described early in life as "being unable to keep his mouth closed." In this energetic conversation on The Sages with Raymond Acquah, the man we experienced as very humble, details highlights of a life of revolutionary commitment. Writer, Scholar, Linguist, Broadcaster, and Revolutionary, these all competently describe Abdilatif. He is a man of deep convictions and courage.

Effectively an auto-didact, he left formal schooling when he rebelled after failing an exam in Grade Seven. Yet, through the encouragement of his older brother and mentor, he became a voracious and curious reader. Given he was born into a politically active family, much of that reading was of political literature. It was only a matter of time, therefore, when he would become so politically conscious that a life of trying to make the dream of independence real in Kenya would beckon. He tells the story masterfully in this conversation.

Abdilatif is known to many as an accomplished writer, and a poet, yet he started his working life as an accounts clerk. When Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first vice-president, broke away from Jomo Kenyatta and the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU), in protest at what he assessed to be the betrayal of the independence dream, young Abdilatif joined the new political movement that was the consequence.

Jomo Kenyatta responded to this new movement with fury and ungloved fists. The persecution and harassment meted out by the government meant a life of operating underground became necessary. Abdilatif became an avid campaigner, writing highly critical pamphlets of the establishment. It was then only a matter of time; before he was arrested and charged with treason, a crime punishable by death. The young Abdilatif, with no formal training in the law, defended himself in court.

In this wide-ranging and riveting conversation, Abdilatif Abdalla shares key moments and major lessons from a life of resistance and protest. Three years in solitary confinement in Kenyatta's jails, he says, turned him into a prolific poet, as a means to survive.

He discusses the aftermath of imprisonment and how he had to leave Kenya and go into exile, a process that meant for 22 years he was unable to visit his homeland, Kenya. In exile, he teamed up with Ngugi wa Thiong'o and five others to constitute the core of an organised effort to continue the struggle against dictatorship. These were dangerous times, a failed coup attempt in Kenya in 1982, which they opposed, had brought out the worst and most brutal in Daniel Arap Moi, the then President of Kenya.

Infuriated by their activities, Moi was to send his Foreign Minister to the UK to negotiate for the deportation of Abdilatif and Ngugi. When that failed, an effort was made by Moi and his regime to bribe Abdilatif, so he would break away from Ngugi. Abdilatif describes how in the belly of the beast at the BBC, some of them continued their campaigns.

A man is revealed in this interview that never broke. He argues that conviction is what matters most, that "once you believe in what you are doing, consequences don't matter." Not impressed by the ascendancy of neoliberalism in Africa, Abdilatif Abdalla makes a passionate appeal for unity in the ranks of progressives in Africa, especially in Kenya. He believes that the Left must reawaken and Pan-Africanism must gain new relevance and vigour.

No one who thinks seriously about the human condition, the African post-colonial project and freedom in the deepest sense, can fail to be stimulated by the thoughts shared in this conversation from his present base in academia. Watch, and pass it on. We are deeply grateful to Abdilatif Abdalla for agreeing to become a Sage.