How I made my billions, explains Jirongo

 

Citizens   |

June 27, 2011  |

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By CYRUS JIRONGO

This is an abridged version of a testimony given by Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo before the Media Complaints Commission last week.  Mr Jirongo has lodged a complaint against an article authored by Caroline Mutoko in Star newspaper.

(How did Cyrus Jirongo get his wealth? Is President Moi responsible for your wealth or did you gain undue advantage through your relationship with him?)

One of things that keep surprising me is how far some people in this country will go to criminalise wealth and hard work. The question I think is; can you be rich in Kenya without being corrupt?

Let me explain to you how Cyrus Jirongo built a business empire. The answer is so simple it will sound stupid. From Bill Gates to Richard Branson, the principle is simple - you borrow money, you use the money, you make a profit, you pay back; you borrow more money, you trade with it, you make bigger profits, you pay back.

I borrow money to trade. And I make a profit. That is the only principle of business that I know. Show me a Kenyan who is rich and has never borrowed from any bank and I will show you a thief.

In 1986, at the age of 25, I borrowed Sh70,000 to invest in my modest real estate business. This was to pay for small classified ads for properties I was marketing on behalf of clients. My first contact point at the time was a phone booth outside the Hilton Hotel.

I grew. In 1987, I borrowed Sh1 million to give a 10 percent down payment to purchase 14 acres of land that I would eventually transform into the now Kemri Estate. I logged the property to another loan from a bank to construct 156 units. This was to sell to the public. I paid back after making a profit of xyz million.

My third loan was from the National Bank. I bought 50 acres of land in the Kayole.  I called this project "Cyrus in Kayole"..and changed the "C" in Cyrus and made it a "S". This is what you all know as Saika Estate. It means "Cyrus in Kayole".

Is this what you now call "printing money"? Remember this is way before I ever met President Moi.

Saika Estate was a hit with the public as the demand for low cost middle class housing has outstripped the supply.

Come 1990, I set my eyes on a bigger project. I bought 23 acres in the South B area of Nairobi borrowed Sh74 million from a bank to embark on developing 560 units. This is what you all know as Hazina Estate.  In 1991 NSSF secured a deal to purchase 400 units at the price of Sh3 million each.  The expected turnover was Sh1.2 billion.

Remember the Kemri and the Hazina projects were running concurrently.

Is this what you call printing money?

Now imagine a 29-year-old who was talking in billions in 1991!

Then imagine that Moi's mode of politics was through control of money. There was absolutely no way I was going to remain under the radar for long. That is when a request was made that I support President Moi's re-election in the face of a growing opposition.

While my interests were solidly and squarely focused on real estate business, it made good business sense to gain political friends.

However, I saw in this an opportunity to sort out a growing concern; Young middle class businessmen not connected to old money had obstacles. I met the Kanu leadership and we were promised that this status can and will change.

The deal was very clear. A clear promise that Kanu was going to become more accommodating and that those old politicians we believed had made the system unpopular and closed up would be shown the door.

As a 30-year-old ambitious and yet strangely naïve man, I believed the system could be changed from within. I had no idea what I was up against.

With this in mind, I need someone who can tell me and prove to me that I was not a successful business person by any standards before I agreed to chair YK92.

(You were comfortably wealthy from what you are telling us. A 30-year-old potential billionaire. Why would you want to chair YK92 and join politics while in your own words you had no political ambitions?)

First let me tell you: To amass that kind of money took big dreams. And yes I am a big dreamer.

This new situation I found myself and the energy and ideas and people I connected to while doing business in Nairobi made me believe that we could even change the system and provide a platform for the youth who just wanted to actualize their dreams, ambitions and careers.

We now silently believed this engagement with government was actually an opportunity to even take over the leadership of Kenya. 

If you care to pay attention to how events unfolded after Moi was re elected, how YK92 had to be quickly disbanded and all its senior members scattered, you will understand what threat we posed to the system.

Let me state it in black and white. YK92 was secretly codenamed Y.T.O -"Youth Take Over". We believed it was our time.

We mistakenly believed Moi's promise of youth inclusion in government was genuine. We could not have been more wrong.  Kenyans were no ready for youthful leadership. Kanu was not ready. Moi was not ready. 20 years later it comes as no shock to me that the ruling elite as much they talk about youth empowerment, have never been, and truth be told will never be ready for this.

YK92 will always represent one of the best and lost opportunities for the youth of Kenya to be part of governance.

We were the first to talk about youthful political leadership. 21 years later this dream is still being pursued with little results. 21 years later, the people who dominated in 1991 are still calling the shots and surrounding themselves with the age mates who call themselves youth.

You people talk of the ideal and you want me to apologise for having been part of what would have effected a real generation change in leadership? No way !!!

I don't regret any part of it. The only regret I have, is that I was too naïve and inexperienced politically to effectively understand the powers that be and what length they can go to prevent a real generation change.

The only other regret I have is that I put my family, my business and my life in so much jeopardy and risk for pursuing the cause I did.  And 20 years later my family and I are still paying for this.

(Mr Jirongo is the Lugari MP)

Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Eblog/view/How-I-made-my-billions,-explains-Jirongo.html#ixzz1QZYDFJ3D
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