Jirongo sets the record straight on YK92 money, says it was Goldenberg scandal loot

In his Savage Politics podcast, Jirongo, who was having a sit down with Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, was asked to reveal the details about the money and the YK92 group where he was a ringleader. 

Jirongo denied the age-old claims that the government printed billions of shillings, which it used to distribute to Kenyans through the YK92 group to buy their support for KANU. 

"This is a very obvious thing... somebody comes up with a scheme and says, 'I will buy gold and export, then Central Bank gives him 30%... Ksh. 58 billion being paid out to somebody for nothing, that ruined the economy of the country. For somebody exporting paper, that is a lot of money to get out of the system...," Jirongo said.

This was during the period of the infamous Goldenberg scandal that saw taxpayers lose billions of shillings through fraudulent deals by then-government officials.

Pressed to clarify that the money distributed by the YK92 was the loot, Jirongo said: "Obviously it was Goldenberg (scandal) money. Even a bank existed called Exchange Bank purposely put up under the pretence that we are looking for dollars... and the money is being given by Central Bank to these people and adding them 33% for some compensation... That is the money that was being distributed".

Jirongo denied having a hand in the loot and its distribution, saying he is lucky to be alive to speak these things because there was every scheme to silence him since he refused to toe the line.

He says masterminds of the Goldenberg Scandal then tried to find scapegoats, and that is how they settled on the YK92 group which he (Jirongo) was part of.

"We gone through cases of Goldenberg, I don't appear. But you will find names there that were handling that money. If you ask what was spent, I have no idea. You would find people driving cars and I was supposed to work with the same people," he further said.

He further claimed that YK92 was operated by the intelligence of the country, and orders and decisions were made at State House. 

"You are there thinking you are leading people, but it's not. If you remember there was a coup in YK92 led by Sam Nyamweya and others to kick me out because I was not toeing the line," Jirongo further claimed.

He revealed that he has written a book touching on all the happenings during and after the Moi era, but fears releasing it because it will endanger his life.

YK92 was a group that comprised youthful supporters of KANU and indeed President Moi, which was led by Jirongo as the Chairman. Others in the group included Sam Nyamweya, Patrick Musumba, Gerald Bomett, William Ruto, Micah Kigen among others.

YK92 dished out Ksh.500 notes, which informally was referred to as Jirongo.

The Goldenberg scandal involved businessman Kamlesh Pattni's Goldenberg International company, which injected over Ksh.11 billion into KANU's campaign kitty as the ruling party battled the opposition following the return of multiparty democracy. 

It was a political scandal where the Kenyan government was found to have subsidised exports of gold far beyond standard arrangements.

Goldenberg International was said to have been pretending to export gold and diamonds, and in exchange received substantial subsidies from the KANU government for 'earning' foreign exchange. 

Pattni was at the centre of the scandal but was acquitted after many years of court battles.