Waruhiu Itote (1922 – 30 April 1993, aged 70-71), nom de guerre General China, was one of the key leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) in British Kenya alongside Dedan Kimathi, Stanley Mathenge, Kurito ole Kisio, Kubu Kubu, and Musa Mwariama and Muthoni Kirima.
He received minimal education at a local Church of Scotland mission, before moving to Nairobi as a teenager to escape his father's beatings.
Itote enlisted in the British army in 1942, serving in the King's African Rifles throughout Asia, firstly at Ceylon and then in the Burma Campaign.
[3] In the company of fellow ex-army comrades he dabbled in the criminal underworld as part of Nairobi's Forty Group, to supplement his wages as a fireman.
Following a deal instigated by Ian Henderson, Itote agreed to cooperate with the government and negotiate an end to the uprising in return for his life.
[8] In prison, Itote saved the future president's life after a fellow inmate, Kariuki Chotara, then a minor on murder charges, attempted to stab Jomo Kenyatta.
He also got military training in Israel, before returning to Kenya to serve as assistant director of the National Youth Service under Geoffrey Griffin, a position he held up to 1984.