The country has been thrown into mourning again following the demise of Bomet governor Joyce Laboso. Until her untimely demise, had diligently served her electorate as one of only 3 elected governors in Kenya.
The governor was receiving treatment at the ICU of Nairobi Hospital, the same facility in which Kibra MP Ken Okoth had been admitted before he also succumbed to colorectal cancer on Friday last week.
But Laboso wouldn’t have even been a governor, were it not for another unfortunate event that happened 2008. Her sister Lorna Laboso perished in a plane crash on 10th June 2008.
Then an MP for Sotik Constituency and Assistant Minister in the Vice President’s office, Lorna and then Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones were headed to a political rally in Kericho when their plane burst into flames after it hit a building at Kajong’a market near Nairagie Enkare in Enoosupukia, Narok County.
President Mwai Kibaki said that Kenya had “lost leaders of immense potential at their prime age and with a promising future.” He ordered the National Flag to fly at half-mast.
It is only after the demise of Lorna that another lady from the Laboso family came into the limelight; Joyce won the by-elections held on 25th, September 2008. Yes, she was never meant to be a politician. She beat off 11 candidates among them Daniel Moi’s aide retired Brigadier Alexander Sitienei.
Laboso defended her seat on a URP ticket in 2013, having ditched ODM after the fallout between Ruto and Raila Odinga.
In 2017, she was elected the first female governor of Bomet County, in a heavily contested election against Isaac Rutto. President Uhuru Kenyatta attended her inauguration ceremony.
And now she is gone, the Laboso family is mourning the demise of another daughter. Joyce died aged 59 years. She is survived by a husband and three children. Throughout her political career, she kept her family life private.