Former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo.
When the Registrar of Titles in June 2010 published a gazette notice revoking the title deed to a 1,000-acre land registered to Offshore Trading Company, Cyrus Jirongo sued to block the move.
His Offshore Trading Company Ltd had acquired the land mysteriously in 1993, before tying it to a Sh1.1 billion loan from Postbank Credit Ltd – a lender that would collapse under the weight of such irregular lending to the powerful politician.
Mr Jirongo had not offset the loan at the time of his death early Saturday morning in a road crash along the Nairobi-Naivasha highway, with the balance still at over Sh19.8 billion as per court papers.
The Nation had not established, at the time of going to press, whether a second loan from the same lender whose interest also grew to upwards of Sh20 billion had been settled.
A natural-born rhetorician with a gambler’s smile, Mr Jirongo placed more effort on talking his way out of trouble, leaving the court case as a fallback plan.
Within no time, a settlement was filed in court, which would allow Mr Jirongo to retain the 1,000-acre Ruai land.
Mr Cyrus Jirongo who was the chairman of YK'92.
Mr Jirongo was, as part of the out-of-court deal, to surrender another parcel in Nyayo Embakasi to the Ministry of Lands, and then withdraw the suit.
The ministry let him keep the Ruai land, and he withdrew the court case. But the Nyayo Embakasi land was mysteriously sold to third parties, leaving the government and taxpayers holding the short end of the stick.
That was Cyrus Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo in his prime. A shrewd dealmaker, who would exploit the weaknesses in any system, if it would make him any richer.
To some, he was a smooth talker with big dreams ahead of his time. To others, he was a snake oil merchant. Whichever narrative one is to believe, Cyrus Shakhalaga Jirongo was the ultimate dealmaker.
On January 23, 2025, High Court judge Oscar Angote brought an end to Mr Jirongo’s shenanigans regarding the land by dismissing a third case the former Lugari MP had filed in 2021 against the government over the same property.
Mr Jirongo sued the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) in 2014 to block a planned auction of the Ruai land. The KDIC, as liquidator of Postbank Credit, wanted to recover the Sh1.1 billion loan whose interest was still growing.
As that case was proceeding, then Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho in 2021 published a gazette notice which returned possession of the land to the government, prompting a third suit by Mr Jirongo against the government, Nairobi County and Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company.
Justice Angote dismissed Mr Jirongo’s claim that the 2021 repossession went against the settlement from 10 years earlier. Mr Jirongo argued that the settlement had been adopted as a court order.
The judge maintained that an out-of-court deal cannot override provisions of the Constitution.
Mr Jirongo revealed in the 2014 case against KDIC that he intended to sell the Ruai land and use part of the proceeds to pay a Sh30 million debt he owed Emris Investments.
Emris sued Mr Jirongo in 2013 for breach of contract. After promising to sell a house in Imara Daima estate to Emris, Mr Jirongo offloaded the property to someone else.
The company sued Mr Jirongo for Sh50 million after he failed to honour a commitment to pay up.
Cyrus Jirongo during an interview at his Mayfair Suites offices in Nairobi on October 28, 2021.
The Ruai land was intended for the expansion of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company’s treatment plant in Ruai. But some sweet-talking here and arm-twisting there birthed a title deed in the name of Offshore Trading Company Ltd.
Almost immediately, Mr Jirongo charged the land for the Postbank Credit loan. He would return a year later for another Sh1.65 billion loan for Sololo Outlets, which also remained unpaid.
The two land parcels that Mr Jirongo used as security for the loans were public property, grabbed and used to make a quick buck.
In 2022, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission flagged a string of suspicious payments stemming from Mr Jirongo.
The former MP had just tricked Nairobi County into paying him Sh250 million for a 2.5-acre land in Mukuru kwa Reuben, which the devolved unit already owned.
The land has, since 1986, hosted several public amenities like AEF Reuben Primary School, a clinic and a police station.
In 1990, former army Major-General Augustine Cheruiyot somehow acquired a title deed for the property and transferred it to Mr Jirongo’s Kuza Farms Ltd.
The title deed was among the properties used as security for the 1994 loan that Sololo Outlets took from Postbank Credit.
The Catholic Church in 1998 transferred AEF Reuben and its land to City Hall, not knowing that Mr Jirongo and his cronies had already dealt with the same property.
Out-of-court deal
In 2014, Mr Jirongo sued AEF Reuben and City Hall, demanding payment for the compulsory acquisition of his land. Despite the school and other amenities having come into existence before Mr Jirongo’s title deed, City Hall opted for a conditional out-of-court deal.
The former MP was to hand over the title deed to City Hall and ensure that it was freed from any debt. In return, City Hall would pay him Sh250 million.
Eight years later, the land was still tied to the Postbank Credit loan, and its title deed was with the KDIC. But City Hall still released the money to Mr Jirongo.
Mr Jirongo used some of the funds to offset debts he had acquired from friends and businesses.
Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli received Sh60 million as part payment for a Sh100 million friendly loan he had issued Mr Jirongo.
Former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo (left) and Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli at Wilson Airport in Nairobi on October 14, 2012.
Former Vihiga Senator, who spent some time with Mr Jirongo on Thursday evening in Karen hours before the fatal crash, received Sh5 million. Former Chief Justice David Marende got Sh3 million for legal services his firm had provided.
In 2017, Mr Jirongo successfully sought suspension of a bankruptcy order that the High Court had issued against him, and which would have blocked the former MP from contesting in that year’s Presidential Election.
He came in last in the repeat election, getting just over 3,800 votes.
Mr Jirongo and his family have, on many occasions over the years, been visited by auctioneers looking to recover funds the former MP borrowed from lending institutions, friends and associates.
Generous to a fault, some friends say. A taste for the finer things in life, others add.
He had mastered the art of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
With his death, a number of questions on debt and obligations will remain unresolved. But his stranger-than-fiction life, which mixed politics and business, remains on record and is one of a legend.
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