Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso is dead

**Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso who has died of cancer in this February 5, 2019 picture.** [Boniface Okendo/Standard]

Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso has died of cancer.

She succumbed at the Nairobi Hospital aged 58 years, family sources confirm.

Governor Laboso was under medication two weeks after arriving from India from London where she had been hospitalised.

Earlier today, the hospital announced that she had been put under bed rest under the close attention of doctors.

On July 14, 2019, Bomet Deputy Governor Hillary Barchok urged the residents to stay calm and pray for her recovery.

The Governor’s ailment has remained undisclosed. Dr Barchok had urged the nation to respect her privacy.

On May 29, Governor Laboso left the country for Britain for treatment. She was admitted at the Royal Madden NHS Hospital where she underwent treatment for nearly a month.

She was then transferred to India for further treatment three weeks ago.

While in Britain, NASA leader Raila Odinga, Ambassador Manoah Espisu, Chief Justice David Maraga and Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwonyvisited her. Former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto also paid her a visit.

Joyce's death is yet another tragedy for the Laboso's. On June 10, 2008, her sister Lorna Laboso, who was an assistant minister, and Cabinet Minister Kipkalya Kones died in a plane crash.

Dr Laboso won the Sotik Parliamentary Seat on an ODM party ticket in 2008.

The former French lecturer at Egerton University had been pulled from the lecture hall to fill the gap left by her younger sister Lorna.

The ODM had insisted that Lorna's seat and that of Kones be retained within their respective families to honour their contribution to the party's campaign in the run-up to the 2007 General Election.

Joyce would later be elected as the National Assembly Deputy Speaker before being elected Bomet Governor during the 2018 General Elections when she floored the incumbent Isaac Ruto of Chama Cha Mashinani party.

Together with Charity Ngilu of Kitui and Anne Waiguru of Kirinyaga, they made history being elected the first female governors in Kenya.

This July, three public figures have died of cancer attracting attention to the prevalence of the disease. On July 1 Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore died of blood cancer. Four weeks later Kibra MP Ken Okoth succumbed to colorectal on Friday, July 26.

Political path

Dr Laboso joined politics after she won the Sotik Parliamentary Seat under the ODM party in 2008.

The former French lecturer at Egerton university had been called from the classroom to fill the gap left by her younger sister, the late Lorna Laboso, who with the then Roads Minister, Kipkalya Kones, died in a plane crash on June 10, 2008.

The Orange Democratic Movement party (ODM) had insisted that Lorna's seat and that of Kones be retained within their respective families to honour their contribution to the party's campaign in the run-up to the 2007 General Election.

Laboso would later be elected as the National Assembly Deputy Speaker before being elected Bomet Governor during the 2018 General Elections.

Dr Laboso's political performance had always been on an upward trend and she was described by many as 'a refined leader' and the 'iron lady' of Kalenjin politics.

She again wrote another history in 2017 Elections after being elected as one of the first female governors in the new constitutional dispensation.

Dr Laboso won the Bomet Gubernatorial seat beating an experienced political figure in Isaac Rutto, who ran under his Chama Cha Mashinani party.

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Additional reporting Bosco Marita