The late Cyrus Jirongo's friends have sought to address the controversy surrounding the manner in which the former Lugari MP made his wealth.
For a time, news about Jirongo's estate splashed on all forms of media, with undertones of supposedly ill-gotten wealth.
It would be suggested that the deceased leveraged his connections with the late Daniel Moi's regime to build his multi-billion shilling empire.
In one instance, it was suggested that a bank went under after lending Jirongo millions, which he supposedly defaulted on.
Speaking during his requiem mass in Nairobi Saturday, December 27, Jirongo's friends dismissed the narrative.
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They noted that the deceased was an astute businessman who made his fortune long before he joined politics.
Fred Amayo was one of Jirongo's long-time friends and a colleague in the Youth for KANU ’92, a controversial political lobby group that played a major role in Moi's re-election in 1992.
Amayo said that by the time he was joining politics, he had succeeded in his business interests.
According to Amayo, politics did Jirongo more harm.
"I would like to put it here today, in broad daylight. By the time I met Jirongo before we started YK92, when he was just in his late 20s, going to 30s, he had already built Hazina Estate. He was building Kemri Estate. We were on site in Saika Estate. This getting into politics is what has caused Jirongo all these waves right through his life," he said.
Amayo noted that the stories that ran about Jirongo and his wealth were all fabrications aimed at tainting his image.
He noted that the deceased politician indeed gave all he had more than he received from anyone, including his political connections.
"Jirongo was already a successful man before he got into politics. And those who are propagating these stories that he made his money from politics, I know for a fact that when Jirongo was a member of parliament, he never even spent a shilling out of his salary as an MP. It used to go to the people of Lugari," he added.
Amayo's arguments were underscored by former Nairobi Town Clerk, Philip Kisia.
Kisia noted that politics deprived Jirongo of the fortunes he had made, adding that the deceased's wealth had nothing to do with politics.
"He was an astute businessperson. He had made millions of shillings before joining politics. If you ask me, I think politics destroyed my brother Cyrus. Cyrus made no money from politics. But rather he lost. So, and thank you, my brother, Amayo, for making that clarification," Kisia said.
Jirongo died on December 13 in a grisly road accident on the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway.
His car was crashed by a speeding Climax bus which was ferrying passengers from Nairobi to Busia.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) took over the probe into the death after allegations of foul play swirled around the death.
