If the media trumpeted that former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo lived a colourful life, we would let it slide. Truly, for two and half decades, stories about the man painted exactly that picture.
A freshly minted Sh500 banknote was nicknamed “Jirongo” during Kenya’s 1992 multiparty elections because it was extensively distributed by Cyrus Jirongo, the leader of the Moi-bankrolled YK92 group, to campaign for the President.
The number of “his women” — one of his four known wives told the media that Jirongo introduced up to 16 women as her co-wives — evoked comparisons with the fabled Homa Bay polygamist Akuku Danger, whose notoriety lay in his extreme polygamy and public bravado.
Money around Jirongo defied logic. One minute he would be loaned Sh100 million by Francis Atwoli on a handshake; the next minute, he would be broke.
Yes, colourful was an allowed adjective for Jirongo. But reporting his death on December 13, in a night road crash along the Nairobi–Naivasha highway, according to police, should first and foremost have been journalism.
The Daily Nation’s reporting on December 16 seemed to have missed that memo. Titled “Questions linger over Cyrus Jirongo’s last moments after fatal car crash,” the story not only skirted facts; it struggled with logic.
It presented “fresh details obtained by the Nation from sources who requested anonymity” as follows:
- A boda boda rider operating in Naivasha at about 1.30am said: “I saw a white Mercedes Benz pull over and a woman disembark from the front passenger seat. I had also dropped a passenger at the same spot. When I checked who the driver was, I saw it was Mr Jirongo.”
- A motorist driving towards Nairobi said he later saw Jirongo’s white Mercedes Benz parked by the roadside, where the politician had stopped briefly to answer a call of nature. “Even though it was at night, I could tell it was Mr Cyrus Jirongo because I know him.”
- An attendant at East African Oilgas (Eagol) petrol station in Karai said Jirongo drove into the station at about 2.15am, made a U-turn without fuelling, and then collided head-on with a Climax bus. The attendant said he rushed to the scene and tried to open the car door, but it was locked. “When I peeped inside, I saw Jirongo slumped over the steering wheel, facing downwards, with blood visible on his head.”
Let’s analyse just these three accounts. First, a random boda boda rider was able to identify Jirongo in darkness at 1.30am?
Then, a motorist driving — let’s assume at over 50km/hr — at night, was able to identify a man relieving himself by the roadside as Jirongo?
And finally, even a petrol station attendant — another random fellow — instantly knew that the man slumped over the steering wheel was Jirongo?
What is wrong with this picture? A good reporter should think like a detective — armed with a healthy dose of scepticism. There is no such thing as coincidence in detective work. Don’t write things that beat logic and pass them on to readers unexplained.
