The death of former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo has revived memories of a political partnership that once appeared unbreakable. As leaders of the powerful YK ’92 lobby, #Jirongo and a youthful William Ruto engineered President Daniel arap Moi’s 1992 re-election, commanding influence far beyond their ages. Yet beneath the surface of that success lay two contrasting political destinies – one that would slowly crumble after 2002, and another that would soar to the presidency.
Jirongo’s early advantage within the movement positioned him as Ruto’s mentor, even securing him a Cabinet post ahead of the 2002 polls. But the transition from Moi’s KANU era to the NARC wave that swept Kenya that year marked the beginning of his political decline. Jirongo lost his Lugari seat and, despite sporadic comebacks – including a 2007 return to Parliament – he never regained his earlier national clout. The loss exposed structural weaknesses in his political networks, which began to thin rapidly as the country’s politics reconfigured.
Ruto, meanwhile, survived the same political turbulence that battered Jirongo. Retaining his Eldoret North seat, he rode the shifting currents with tactical precision – first emerging as a national figure in ODM’s 2007 Pentagon, then realigning with Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of the 2013 polls. While Jirongo struggled to build a stable political base, Ruto steadily transformed his from a constituency power center to a national machine.
Their rivalry sharpened in the years that followed. Jirongo unsuccessfully challenged Ruto’s ascent- first by contesting the presidency in 2013, then by repeatedly criticizing Ruto’s leadership and political methods. Yet each attempt underscored the widening gap between them. As Ruto became Deputy President in 2013 and later Kenya’s fifth President in 2022, Jirongo’s influence continued to shrink, culminating in another failed bid for the Kakamega governorship that same year.
Weighing on the issue, seasoned political commentators argued that Mr. Jirongo, though, a shrewd businessman, couldn’t learn the changing political dynamics and, instead, stuck with the old tactics which Ruto shook off with a lot of vigour, aggressiveness and dedication.
By the time of his(Jirongo) death in a road crash on Saturday December 13, 2025, Jirongo had become one of Ruto’s loudest critics – an ironic twist given their shared origins. His story now stands as a stark contrast to Ruto’s trajectory: the former kingmaker whose fortunes collapsed after 2002 versus the once-junior ally whose political star has only grown brighter over three decades.