United Democratic Party leader Cyrus Jirongo has dismissed a newspaper feature as mere fiction about the Youth for Kanu’ 92’s operations during the transition to multipartyism in 1992.
Jirongo defended the lobby that helped President Daniel Moi fight the opposition wave, saying the YK’92 undoubtedly played a critical role in Kenya’s transition to multipartyism and later the Moi succession, 10 years later.
Jirongo said he is working on a book detailing the intrigues of YK’92 that will give a blow-by-blow account of the outfit’s activities during the Kanu era.
“I want to tell my friends in political circles and in the media that, while it is within everyone’s right to choose what facts and events to remember, it’s important to remember that historical facts are stubborn,” the former chairman of the lobby told the Star on the phone yesterday.
“There are only three things that cannot be hidden for long and these are the sun, the moon and the truth,” Jirongo said.
He said very few of the personalities quoted in the book as having attended the inner sanctum meetings or were part of the main strategy know anything about the outfit. “The uncomfortable truth is that only I and possibly one or two individuals have facts and figures that could explain the full extent of YK’92’s mission during the Moi and post-Moi era,” Jirongo said. Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday admitted that he was Jirongo’s junior in the outfit.
More than 20 former members of YK’92 were reported to have met at Caribea Restaurant in Hurlingham last Tuesday. Former YK’92 member Alex Mukabwa said they want to remove the perception that the lobby was made up of hooligans. Former minister Amukowa Anangwe who was reported in the feature as having been among professors associated with the outfit dismissed the report as mischievous.