[1] He is the first and third governor of the County of Laikipia first serving from 2013 to 2017, representing the Jubilee Coalition party TNA and securing a return running on a UDA ticket in 2022.
He resigned from government and joined USAID, for whom he was in charge of the International Small Group and Tree planting programme(ISGTPP).
Joshua Irungu, and his running mate Josephat Kabugi Gitonga[5] won the 2013 Gubernatorial election in Laikipia County by a landslide, having secured the nomination of the National Alliance party earlier in the year.
[6] Joshua Irungu's tenure as governor ran into controversy due to his association with a move by Kenyan politicians calling for the evicting of white settlers from the country.
He was said to have demanded the departure of settlers of British origin from Laikipia County for 'failure to support deferral of cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto at the international Criminal Court' a statement for which he later apologized.