It was a rainy Nairobi night in January 1993 when city journalist Mwenda Njoka stumbled upon a scene straight out of a thriller.
A sleek Mercedes-Benz had smashed into a traffic island on Jogoo Road, and behind the wheel was none other than the brash Youth for KANU ’92 chairman, Cyrus Jirongo.
Jirongo, dazed and bleeding from a cut on his head, looked calm—almost unnervingly so. Njoka recalls, “He didn’t panic. He wasn’t worried about himself, but what was in the boot.”
Not a shred of cash—just deadly cargo. Together, they moved the explosive load into Njoka’s car, as if this was an everyday errand.
Minutes later, Jirongo called Francis Chahonyo, his ally and managing director of Post Bank Credit.
“Come pick me up,” he reportedly told Chahonyo. Within moments, Chahonyo arrived and whisked Jirongo to his Lavington home, well before police could reach the scene.
The crash unfolded just after President Daniel arap Moi announced his first multiparty Cabinet, in the wake of the disputed 1992 elections.
Jirongo had become a symbol of youthful power and political influence, and this night only added layers of intrigue to his rising profile.
Njoka’s account, shared later by journalist John Kamau in his Sunday Nation column on December 21, paints a vivid portrait of Nairobi’s dangerous political undercurrents.
The encounter wasn’t just an accident—it was a glimpse into a world where politics, power, and peril collided on the city streets.