Newspapers on Thursday, December 12, reported on various topics, with the mysterious death of former Lugari Member of Parliament Cyrus Jirongo dominating the newspapers.
Source: UGC
1. Daily Nation
The newspaper reported on the questions that continue to emerge regarding the tragic death of former Lugari Member of Parliament Cyrus Jirongo.
Jirongo died after his Mercedes Benz collided with a Climax bus that was heading towards him kiss which was transporting passengers from Nairobi.
One of the informants, Peter Kamau, remembered when the accident happened and rushed to the scene.
He explained that, along with nine other informants, they tried to save the passenger of the Mercedes Benz. However, the door was locked, and they had to use an ax to remove the body from the wreckage.
Kamau, a motorcycle mechanic who lives in Karai, said that the passenger, who was alone in the car, had fallen on the steering wheel, his face facing upwards.
“We have been responding to accidents as this area is a hotspot. When I heard a loud bang, I ran outside. I live a few meters from the highway. We did not know who the person was; we were trying to help as rescuers. Unfortunately, he was dead, and we had to wait for the police officers to arrive,” Daily Nation quoted Kamau as saying.
The 21-year-old man reported that inside Jirongo’s car, they found a half-drank bottle of alcohol and a pack of cigarettes.
Kamau added that the distraught bus passengers remained at the scene for about ten minutes before another bus arrived to pick them up.
“… they got off the bus and were transferred to another, and continued their journey. There were more than 40 passengers; some of them were recording videos and taking pictures. There was a traffic jam on the route he was supposed to use after joining the highway,” he said.
When the traffic police officers arrived at the Karai area early on Saturday morning, they secured the area, collected evidence, and later towed both vehicles to the police station.
No inventory of the contents of the vehicle was taken. On Tuesday, a police officer explained that in traffic incidents, it is up to the first responding officer to decide whether to record the count or not.
At the steel yard and Climax Coaches depot in Elementaita, Gilgil sub-county, just a few kilometers from the accident site, operations continued as usual. Climax Transport Company buses continued to arrive, transporting passengers.
Inside the station there was a garage and a fuel station, where several buses were filling up with fuel, alongside hotels and general stores where travelers stopped to rest and use the toilets before starting their journey.
Detectives from the homicide department visited the scene for the third time.
In a statement, DCI confirmed that it had dispatched a multi-agency team consisting of homicide officers and homicide experts from the National Criminal Investigation Laboratory.
2. Nation Today
The newspaper reported the results of the autopsy on the death of former Lugari Member of Parliament Cyrus Jirongo.
Senior government psychiatrist Johansen Oduor, working with doctors appointed by the family and friends of the deceased, Joseph Ndung’u, Bernard Midia and Martin Wanyoike, said on Wednesday that the injuries that caused Jirongo’s death appear to be similar to those caused by a road accident.
The post-mortem report will be an important basis for the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), which on Tuesday launched a formal investigation into the death.
In a statement, the DCI said it interviewed the Climax Coaches bus driver, Tyre Kamau Githinji, together with the staff at the Eagol petrol station where the deceased had left shortly before the accident.
Speaking at the end of his statement, Oduor said his team had taken more samples for further investigation due to unanswered questions.
“Jirongo died from severe chest injuries caused by the accident, as clearly stated by the doctors. This autopsy is part of the ongoing investigation. We have completed the initial investigation, but we have also taken samples for further analysis due to ongoing concerns,” said Oduor.
He added that the samples will be examined by the Chief Government Chemist as well as an expert appointed by the family, while DNA samples will be taken. He urged the public to be patient while the investigation continues.
The impact of the accident caused serious injuries to the chest, head and stomach of the deceased, and he died before being removed from the car.
Ndung’u said the body had many injuries, including broken bones in his arms and legs, several broken ribs, ruptured heart and arteries, blood in the chest and abdomen, a damaged liver, and a severed spinal cord in the chest area.
Media and Wanyoike agreed with the results.
Former Vihiga Senator George Khaniri, who was among the last people to see and speak to the deceased, was the first to ask questions about the circumstances of his death, asking what Jirongo was doing in Karai when his Mercedes-Benz collided with a Climax bus.
Khaniri said he spoke to the deceased at 5 pm before the accident, reminding him of an important meeting scheduled for the next day, and the deceased told him he was on his way back home to Gigiri.
However, he was pronounced dead three hours later, about 76 kilometers from his home.
3. The Star
The newspaper reported on the direction that the investigation into the death of Cyrus Jirongo may take following the autopsy and the emergence of CCTV images explaining the circumstances of the death.
Police attended the inquest at Lee Funeral Home on Wednesday, December 17, and helped shape the direction of the ongoing investigation.
The DCI confirmed that it has launched an investigation into the death of Jirongo, who was seriously injured in an accident on December 13 on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway in Karai.
Preliminary findings show that his Mercedes car collided head-on with a Climax Company bus at 2:19 am, forcing his car to be 25 meters from the accident site while the bus stopped about 50 meters away.
A joint team of homicide officers and forensic experts from the National Forensic Laboratory examined the scene, collected evidence, and obtained CCTV footage from the Eagol gas station.
The video shows Jirongo entering the station from Nairobi at 2:18:40 am without refueling, stopping at the exit at 2:19:10, then turning towards Nairobi at 2:19:19.
A few seconds later, at 2:19:25, the bus hit his car.
Investigators have questioned the bus driver, Tyrus Githinji, who had already given a statement at the Naivasha Traffic Centre.
He was released on cash bail but must report Dec. 22 for further action.
Investigators also interviewed the station’s night watchman and a fuel attendant, who both shared their accounts of the night’s events.
4. The Standard
The newspaper singled out the death of Supreme Court judge Mohammed Ibrahim, 69, after he had been ill for a while.
Ibrahim died in Nairobi, just two days after returning from treatment in India.
A founding member of the first bench of the High Court of Kenya, he was ill three weeks ago and was flown out of the country for special care.
On Monday, December 15, he was again admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Nairobi hospital, where he remained until his death.
Chief Justice Martha Koome he praised him, calling him “a lawyer of exceptional integrity and humility.”
According to the Judicial Services Commission, he made history in 1982 as the first Kenyan-Somali lawyer to be admitted as a lawyer.
Rising through the ranks, he joined the High Court in 2003 and later the Supreme Court in 2011, where he was instrumental in drafting the interpretation of the landmark 2010 Constitution of Kenya.
In 2022, his fellow judges elected him to represent the Court in the JSC, a role in which he strongly defended judicial independence, accountability, and integrity.
He also led important election preparation committees, strengthening public confidence in electoral justice.
Those who worked with him remember him as a humble lawyer, a principled counselor, and a steadfast defender of constitutional values.
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