{"id":14270,"date":"2026-01-10T00:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/14270\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T00:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:36:24","slug":"the-late-jirongo-loved-driving-atwoli-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/14270\/","title":{"rendered":"The late Jirongo loved driving, Atwoli reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya (COTU-K) secretary general Francis Atwoli<\/p>\n

Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya (COTU-K)
\nsecretary general Francis Atwoli has shared touching details about the late
\nformer Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo, recalling his love for driving himself despite
\nhaving the means to employ a driver.<\/p>\n

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV\u2019s JK Live, Atwoli
\nsaid Jirongo had a deep passion for driving and enjoyed being behind the wheel
\nof his cars.<\/p>\n

According to Atwoli, this preference remained unchanged even
\nlate at night, when safety concerns would normally prompt many leaders to rely
\non drivers or security personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved driving. It is not like he could not afford a
\ndriver or a bodyguard. All his cars were Mercedes Benz or other expensive
\ncars,\u201d Atwoli said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is one of those people who had a passion for driving
\nand enjoying his car.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHe used to come to
\nmy place in Kajiado and I could tell him, \u2018Cyrus, why don\u2019t you have a driver,
\nespecially when it is late like this?\u2019 and he would say, \u2018Francis, forget about
\nit,\u2019 and insist that he could drive himself and find his way home,\u201d Atwoli
\nnarrated.<\/p>\n

Jirongo died on December 13, 2025, following a fatal road
\naccident along the Nairobi\u2013Nakuru Highway near Karai, Naivasha.<\/p>\n

He was 64 years old. The accident occurred at around 3:00
\na.m. as he was driving toward Nairobi when his Mercedes-Benz vehicle collided
\nhead-on with a Climax Company passenger bus.<\/p>\n

He was alone in the car and was pronounced dead at the scene
\nafter sustaining severe injuries.<\/p>\n

A post-mortem examination later revealed that Jirongo died
\nfrom extensive crush and blunt force trauma, including multiple rib fractures,
\na perforated heart, and severe internal injuries to the chest and abdomen.<\/p>\n

During the interview, Atwoli also recalled how he received
\nthe devastating news of Jirongo\u2019s death while he was abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was told Cyrus is no more after having an accident
\nin Naivasha, I became sick. I was in London,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that he immediately called former Westlands MP Fred
\nGumo to express his condolences and solidarity with the family.<\/p>\n

Upon returning to Kenya, Atwoli said he visited Jirongo\u2019s
\nhome in Gigiri to personally condole with the family.<\/p>\n

He described Jirongo as a unifying figure whose influence
\ncut across ethnic lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cCyrus was the heart of Mulembe Nation, he was the heart of
\nKenyans,\u201d Atwoli said, noting that Jirongo was not tribal and had built a
\nfamily that reflected Kenya\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n

Atwoli also dismissed claims that Jirongo was involved in
\nquestionable dealings, saying he was a man of integrity.<\/p>\n

\u201cCyrus would come to you and borrow money instead of getting
\ninto scandals. He was not a scandalous person, not someone you would find in
\ndirty deals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that Jirongo had built his own business empire
\nthrough hard work, running several companies and believing in earning a living
\nin a straightforward manner.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya (COTU-K) secretary general Francis Atwoli Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya (COTU-K) secretary general…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[9536,9534,80,9535,9537,5740,98,100,101,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-14270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-citizen-tvs-jk-live","9":"tag-francis-atwoli","10":"tag-kenya","11":"tag-late-former-lugari-mp-cyrus-jirongo","12":"tag-nairobi-nakuru-highway-near-karai","13":"tag-road-accident","14":"tag-star-news","15":"tag-star-news-kenya","16":"tag-the-star","17":"tag-the-star-newspaper"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}