Shujaa Gitu wa Kahengeri was born in Kiamwangi S Village, Gatundu in 1924 and embraced the struggle for independence at the early age of 17 years when he joined the Kikuyu Central Association. At the time, he used to run errands for older members of the association. Later he undertook his primary school education at Kagumo School before being employed by the Kenya Post Office and other subsequent employers. He would later join the Kenya African Union as a political activist and then was made a Mau Mau strategist and became one of the people who initiated a guerilla warfare against the British colonial government. Shujaa wa Kahengeri was later arrested and detained under the Governor Detention Order number 132. His camp number was 1262. He was detained at various detention camps but served longest at the Takwa Detention Camp in Manda Island, Lamu where he was incarcerated together with his biological father Kahengeri wa Gitu. On release from detention after seven years he joined active politics, initially at the county council level and later as a member of parliament for Juja Constituency. He served for two terms. Shujaa wa Kahengeri was also involved in the 'second liberation' of the 1990s when he joined the original Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford). He was a delegate of the Bomas Constitution Conference that birthed the 2010 Kenya Constitution. Shujaa wa Kahengeri is a founding member of the Mau Mau War Veterans Association (MMWVA) of which he has been secretary general from 2003 to date. In this capacity, he led his members in filing a reparation case against the British Government in 2009 for atrocities committed against Kenyans by British colonial forces during the emergency period of the 1950s. MMWVA won that court case and its members were awarded exgratia payment and the British government issued a statement of regret for the atrocities committed.