- The Luhya Council of Elders has asked the government to give former Lugari Member of Parliament, Cyrus Jirongo, a national burial
- The elders said that the honor will be used as an honor not only for the Jirongo family but also for the entire Luhya community
- They also explained why the former MP, who also served as a Cabinet Minister during the late President Daniel Moi’s reign, deserves a national funeral.
A section of Luhya elders in Kakamega county have asked the government to consider giving former Lugari Member of Parliament Cyrus Jirongo a national burial.
Source: Facebook
The elders say that Jirongo, who also served as a Cabinet Minister, deserves to be given a national funeral for the role he played in shaping the country’s development and politics.
According to the secretary general of the Luhya Council of Elders Likuyani branch Cyprian Shisanya, it will also be a sign of respect for the family of the former member of parliament and the Luhya community in general.
Why do the elders of the Luhya community want Jirongo to be given a national funeral
Shisanya told TUKO.co.ke that Jirongo remains an important figure in Kenyan politics and that his star shone brightest during the 1992 General Election, where he led the youth wing, known as YK-92, which helped secure the re-election of the late former president. Daniel arap Moi.
“The government should give Jirongo a national funeral. He helped Moi in the 1992 election, and there is also a lot of visible progress he initiated for Kenyans,” the Luhya elder said.
Jirongo served as Member of Parliament for Lugari for 10 years in two different periods: first from 1997 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2013.
He also served as Minister of Rural Development during the late Moi’s last term, albeit for less than a year, from March to December 2002.
He died in a fatal road accident along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway early on Saturday, December 13.
Despite being a minister for only a few months, Luhya elders in Lugari say that he was able to initiate several development projects not only in Lugari and Kakamega counties but also in the entire Western Kenya region.
They mentioned the construction of the Lugari headquarters as one of the projects he initiated.
“Jirongo also united our community, where we shared ideas that made Moi bring development to Western Kenya,” Shisanya said.
“If he had been given enough time to serve as a minister, he could have done more and our society would have been richer,” he added.
When will Jirongo be buried?
Funeral arrangements for the former member of parliament have already begun, with the family announcing that he will be buried at his village home in Lumakanda, Kakamega county, on Tuesday, December 30.
Source: Facebook
He will be buried near the graves of his parents.
The program released by the family and the funeral committee also shared details of the last days of the former MP’s body, which included the transport of the body from Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi to his home in Gigiri in Nairobi and Kitalebefore being sent to Lumakanda in Lugari constituency.
Was Jirongo killed?
Earlier, TUKO.co.ke reported that a police expert’s report ruled out the possibility of a head-on accident in the fatal accident involving the Mercedes-Benz car that Jirongo was driving.
The report based on the reconstruction of the scene showed that the accident was more than a head-on accident with the Climax bus.
The bus driver had narrated how the accident happened, but there have been questions about the movements of the former member of parliament the night before his death.
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Source: TUKO.co.ke
