The curtains have fallen for one of the most consequential politicians in Kenya during late President Daniel Moi’s regime. Cyrus Jirongo died on Saturday, December 13 morning in a tragic accident in Karai, Naivasha, along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway.

And even as the country wakes up to the tragic news of the sudden passing of former Lugari Member of Parliament and Minister, we look back at the political career of one of Kenya’s storied politicians.

Jirongo rose to political fame in 1992 at the climax of multi-party democracy. In December 1991, President Moi had repealed Section 2A of the Constitution to allow multi-party politics.

With many parties now on the fray heading into the December 29, 1992 General Election, KANU’s President Moi had to device means of consolidating power, and here is where Jirongo came in.

A vibrant movement called the Youth for KANU ’92 (YK92) was formed. YK92 — led by Jirongo as its chairperson — comprised of youthful politicians like Sam Nyamweya, Patrick Musumba, Gerald Bomett, William Ruto, Micah Kigen among others.

The group was tasked with mobilising young people countrywide to vote in favour of President Moi’s re-election bid.

The KSh500 note

YK92 is remembered for many things, mostly negative, but top among them is the fact that the group was awash with cash. YK92 members were extremely generous, dishing out huge sums of money in their campaigns.

Kenyans started peddling speculations and theories touching on the real source of the money. One of the theories was that President Moi’s government allowed YK92 members to print money on large scale to finance KANU’s campaigns.

Even when they were dishing out the money to Kenyans in campaigns, one thing was conspicous… the money came in the form of new, crispy KSh500 notes. Until then, the largest denomination in the country was the KSh200 note.

Although the KSh500 note bore President Moi’s face, it was largely associated with the activities of the YK92 and Cyrus Jirongo, its flamboyant chairperson. It is for this reason that Kenyans nicknamed the note “Jirongo”.

Jirongo denies the legend

Jirongo himself has denied claims that members of the YK92 engaged in money printing.

“This is just part of the false legend that has been used to destroy the reputation of YK92,” Jirongo said in his Savage Politics podcast in 2024. “If the government printed money that is a different thing, but not us. Printing is the work of Central Bank. It would be impossible to do that kind of thing and keep it a secret for all these years. Tell me, have you ever heard one single person saying this was where YK used to print money?”

In a past interview, Jirongo said that the KSh500 note was nicknamed after him because the activities of YK92 peaked at the time when the new note was being released.

To set the record straight, Jirongo has for years said that YK92 got its finances from donations from members, KANU officials and businesspeople friendly to KANU.

He said that the lobby group’s first funding of KSh3 million (approximately KSh30 million today due to inflation) came from him and five of his friends (Bomett, Kiprono Kitony, Jimmy Choge, Nyamweya and Mohammed Ahmed Ali).

“I was a billionaire by the age of 30. YK92 never made me, it destroyed me financially,” Jirongo said in a previous interview with KTN News.

According to Nyamweya, YK92’s Treasurer, the group raised around KSh300 million (approximately KSh1.2 billion today due to inflation) for their campaigns. None of this money, Nyamweya said, came from state coffers.

For instance, the late Nominated MP Mark Too is recorded in the Nation of April 1992 contributing KSh100,000 to a YK’92 fundraiser in Nandi district. In February 1992, then Vice-President George Saitoti led a fundraiser for the group at the Inter-Continental Hotel. Nyamweya said KSh12 million was realised from the fundraiser.

Jirongo served as the Minister for Rural Development between 12 March 2002 to 27 December 2002, at the tail-end of Moi’s administration.

He served as Lugari MP from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2013.

In 2022, he unsuccesfully contested for the Kakamega Gubernatorial seat, losing to ODM’s Fernandes Barasa.