Former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo Dies in Nairobi–Nakuru Highway Accident

Former Lugari Member of Parliament Cyrus Jirongo has died following a tragic road accident along the Nairobi–Nakuru Highway.

Jirongo passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning at around 3 a.m. after his vehicle collided with a passenger bus, according to a police report. He was 64 years old.

A towering figure in Kenyan politics, Jirongo’s career spanned decades, leaving a mark across politics, business, and public life. Born on March 21, 1961, during the Kenya Colony era, he received his secondary education at Mang’u High School between 1978 and 1981.

He rose to national prominence in the early 1990s as the youthful and influential leader of Youth for KANU ’92 (YK ’92), a powerful lobby group formed to mobilise support for the then-ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) ahead of the historic 1992 multiparty elections.

At a time when Kenya was adjusting to a new political dispensation, Jirongo and his colleagues were viewed as dynamic, forceful, and closely aligned with President Daniel arap Moi’s inner circle.

Jirongo entered elective politics in 1997 after winning the Lugari Constituency parliamentary seat. He served as MP from 1997 to 2002 and later from 2007 to 2013. Between 2002 and the end of that year, he was appointed Minister for Rural Development in President Moi’s administration.

Throughout his political journey, Jirongo changed party affiliations several times. After falling out with KANU around 1999, he briefly aligned himself with the unregistered United Democratic Movement, though he later retained ties with KANU in subsequent contests.

In 2006, he founded his own political outfit, the Kenya African Democratic Development Union (KADDU), under which he successfully reclaimed the Lugari seat in the 2007 elections. At the time, KADDU emerged as one of the smallest opposition voices in Parliament.

Jirongo also made multiple attempts at the presidency. He first expressed interest in Kenya’s highest office as early as 1998.

His most notable bid came during the 2017 general elections, where he contested under the United Democratic Party (UDP), a party he continued to lead. In that race, he garnered approximately 11,000 votes, representing about 0.07 per cent of the total votes cast.

Beyond politics, Jirongo was widely known for his large family and his outspoken advocacy for polygamy. He openly defended the practice, often stating that having multiple wives and children was a central part of his life and personal identity.