June 14, 1962: General China-whose real name is Waruhiu Itote the last of the big time Mau Mau freedom fighter and second only in notoriety to the late Dedan Kimathi becomes free man. A brief statement from the Kenya Government Press office said simply: The restriction order on Mr. Waruhiu Itote has been unconditionally revoked. Mr. Itote, whose members at its peak was said to be 4000 is a slightly built English-speaking Kikuyu aged about 40. During the war he served with Kings African Rival (KAR) in Ceylon and Burma. After the war, he was employed by the Railways until he disappeared into Mt. Kenya Forest at the start of emergency. He was captured by the security forces in February 1954 and sentenced to death for consorting with armed terrorists but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Under the “Act of Grace” in 1959 Mr. Itote was restricted to Marsabit until three months ago when he began a jail sentence for the illegal manufacture of Nubian gin. He was released from Nairobi Prison and returned to his home at Fort Hall (Now Murang’a County).

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