The year 2025 will go down as one of the darkest in history that took away many Kenyan political leaders.
Some died through natural causes, while others died in road crashes and murders, among other causes.
The year started with the deaths of three MPs, two current, including a Senator and one former, within one month of February.
First was Baringo County Senator William Kipkoriri Cheptumo.
A lawyer by profession, Cheptumo passed away on February 15, while receiving treatment at Nairobi Hospital after battling an undisclosed illness.
He left behind three children: two sons and a daughter, and his wife, Hannah Wendot Cheptumo, who is now Cabinet Secretary for Gender, Culture, the Arts and Heritage, after being appointed by President William Ruto in April 2025.
Before becoming a Senator on President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), he had served as MP for Baringo North Constituency from 2007 until 2022, when he ran for Senate.
Just immediately after Cheptumo’s death, Malava MP Moses Malulu Injendi also passed away in Nairobi at Aga Khan Hospital due to breathing complications.
The third time MP died on February 17 and had represented Malava Constituency in Kakamega County since 2013.
Before the month of February ended, former Baringo North MP Willy Rotich Kamuren passed away while receiving treatment at a hospital in Nairobi.
Rotich served the constituency for one term from 1988 to 1992 on the Kenya African National Union (KANU)
Towards the end of April, on the 30th, Kasipul MP Charles Ong’ondo Were was killed by a gunman on a motorbike in Nairobi along Ngong Road.
The second time MP in Homa Bay County was elected first in 2017 on the Orange Democratic Movement(ODM).
On July 17, former Karachuonyo MP Dr. Phoebe Muga Asiyo died in a hospital in North Carolina, United States of America, at the age of 93 years.
Her son Caesar Asiyo said the veteran politician died of a stroke while in the USA visiting her family.
The late was first elected the MP for Karachuonyo in 1980 and served until 1983, when Parliament was dissolved.
Dr Asiyo was re-elected to Parliament in 1992 after the inception of the multi-party system on a Ford Kenya ticket until 1997 when the late Paul Adhu Awiti took over.
The deaths of legislators calmed down in August, only to resume in September on the 7th with the death of former Rongo MP Dalmas Otieno, who died aged 80 years.
The seasoned former Minister for Industrialisation, Labour and Human Resource Development, and Transport and Communications under former President Daniel Arap Moi between 1988 and 1991 was first elected MP in 1988.
Otieno, who also later served under the late President Mwai Kibaki under collation government as Minister of State for Public Service, represented Rongo between 2007 and 2013.
This is after he first participated in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party primaries, where he lost to Paul Abuor, then proceeded to contest in the general election as an independent candidate, but he was defeated again by Paul Abuor, who won the seat on the ODM party.
In the following month of August, former Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel passed on, a week later after he was involved in a road crash in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County.
Lempurkel, who served as MP in the eleventh Parliament from 2013 to 2017 under an ODM party, later ditched the party and joined UDA in November.
He later joining Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), which former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua formed in October 2024 after an impeachment after falling out with President Ruto.
October was the darkest month for Kenya after former Prime Minister Raila Odinga died while undergoing treatment in India.
The late ODM Party leader also served as the Minister for Roads, Public Works, and Housing in Kenya from 2003 to 2005 under Mwai Kibaki’s first term from 2002 to 2007.
In 2008, they formed a grand coalition following the 2007 post-election violence, where he served as Prime Minister.
Odinga, who took over from white politician Philip Leaky in 1992 as MP of Langata, represented it till 2007.
And in early November, on 12, Mohamed Tubi Bidu, the MP for Isiolo South, passed away at Nairobi Hospital after a prolonged illness.
The first time MP was first elected in the 2022 general elections under the Jubilee Party.
Come December, the grim reaper reared its ugly head again, taking three MPs: two former and one current, nominated.
First, it was Nominated MP Denar Joseph Hamisi who died on December 6, aged 56 through a fatal road crash on a Saturday morning at around 7 am outside his home in Karen, Nairobi.
According to eyewitnesses’ reports, his SUV veered off Nandi Road into a ditch and struck a tree, leaving him with fatal head injuries.
The late Hamisi was nominated to the National Assembly following the 2022 General Election under the Amani National Congress (ANC).
Then on December 13, former Lugari MP Cyrus Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo died in a tragic road crash at Karai along Nairobi-Nakuru highway on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway on a Saturday morning.
Jirongo died after his personal car was involved in a head-on collision with a Climax bus.
The former MP served in Moi’s regime as Minister for Rural Development from 12 March 2002 to 27 December 2002.
He was MP for Lugari for two terms in 1997 and 2007 and will be buried on Monday, December 31, in Lugari, Kakamega County.
Even before Jirongo was buried, his political rival Enock Wamalwa Kibunguchy also died on December 23.
Kibunguchy represented Lugari between 2002 and 2007 after beating Jirongo in the 2002 general elections, before Jirongo retook the constituency in 2007. Kibunguchy’s burial date has not been announced yet.
