NAIROBI, Kenya – The late Cyrus Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo, who passed away in the early hours of Saturday, December 13, 2025, was born on March 21, 1961.
From 1978 to 1981, he attended Mang’u High School. Rather than having a formal professional background, he gained notoriety early on for his political organising abilities.
As the head of Youth for KANU 92, a potent political lobby group established to back President Daniel arap Moi during Kenya’s first multiparty elections, Jirongo became well-known throughout the country in 1992. Jirongo became one of the most influential young political personalities of the early 1990s thanks to the group’s significant contribution to mobilisation and financing.
news9.africa understands that Jirongo was the chairman of the AFC Leopards Football Club in 1991 before being elected to office. His public profile increased outside of politics thanks to this work.
Jirongo was involved in a number of commercial endeavours in the 1990s, mainly in the real estate and agricultural sectors. He said in public that he became a billionaire at an early age. However, several of these businesses eventually accumulated significant debt, which resulted in protracted legal and financial issues.
He was elected to represent the Lugari Constituency in parliament in 1997. In the last KANU administration, President Moi named him Minister of Rural Development in 2002.
In the 2002 General Election, he lost his parliamentary seat; however, under his own party, the Kenya African Democratic Development Union, he won it again in 2007. He was that party’s sole member of parliament from 2008 to 2013.
Jirongo declared his desire to run for president in 2013, but he ultimately lost his bid for the Kakamega Senate seat. In the presidential contest, he backed the late Raila Odinga.
How Cyrus Jirongo fell into debt
news9.africa understands that Jirongo ran for president in 2017 as a member of the United Democratic Party, but his national vote share was pitiful. Before the 2022 elections, his party subsequently joined the Azimio la Umoja coalition. He publicly applauded President William Ruto following the election.
Jirongo had to deal with growing indebtedness from private lenders and bank loans starting in the mid-2000s. In loan recovery cases, he lost several court rulings. He failed to repay loans totalling hundreds of millions of shillings, and the High Court declared him bankrupt in 2017.
Properties associated with businesses linked to him were either put into receivership or put up for auction. Additionally, courts mandated that he reimburse substantial sums to individuals, including Francis Atwoli, a labour unionist.
Cyrus Jirongo dies in a grisly road accident
Jirongo has a large family and is polygamous. He has discussed having spouses from different communities in public. He experienced personal tragedy in 2025 when one of his daughters passed away following a brief illness.
Earlier, news9.africa reported that Jirongo died in a road accident that occurred at the Karai area near Naivasha town in Nakuru County at around 3 am.
“It happened that one Cyrus Jirongo, aged 64 years, was driving a motor vehicle with registration number KCZ305C, a Mercedes-Benz, from the Nakuru direction heading towards the Nairobi direction, and upon reaching the location of the accident,” a police statement reads in part.
The statement seen by news9.africa further reads: “He failed to keep to its inner lane and collided head-on with the oncoming motor vehicle registration number KCU576A, make MAN belonging to the Climax company, driven by Tiras Kamau Githinji, aged 52 years.”
How the Climax Bus driver reacted to the accident
As a result of the accident, Jirongo sustained serious head injuries and died on the spot. No one was injured on the bus.
“Scene visited and necessary action taken. The deceased’s body was moved to Naivasha Sub-County mortuary, awaiting autopsy. The Mercedes-Benz vehicle was towed to the police station and detained awaiting inspection,” the statement further reads.
Addressing the press, Tiras Kamau Githinji Kamau, the driver of the Climax Coaches Bus, confirmed that the accident occurred early this morning and involved his bus and a Mercedes-Benz saloon car colliding head-on.
“The Mercedes-Benz was coming from a petroleum station, and I was travelling from Nairobi to Busia. The driver of the Mercedes-Benz didn’t give way. When he joined the highway, he noticed there was a heavy traffic jam, so he decided to join my lane; that is when we collided,” said Kamau.
Kamau, who has worked for the bus company for 8 years, further said:
“The Mercedes-Benz had one passenger, who was the driver, and my bus had 65 passengers. I tried to avoid colliding with him, but I realised that my bus could have easily gone down. At first, I didn’t know who was in the saloon car, but it was later, after the police arrived at the scene, that I was told it was Hon. Cyrus Jirongo. Pole sana.”
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