Joyce Laboso, one of only three women governors, was initially a French teacher thrust into politics by accident.
And she proved she could be just as determined and combative as male politicians.
On June 10, 2008, the Egerton University lecturer in French was doing her shopping at a supermarket in Nakuru town when the news broke that a chopper carrying Roads minister and Konoin MP Kipkalya Kones had crashed in Narok.
Joyce’s sister Lorna, then Sotik MP and an assistant minister, was on that plane. No one survived. Lorna and Kones were heading to Kericho for a political rally for an ODM candidate contesting the Ainamoi seat in a by-election.
The seat fell vacant following the death of newly elected MP David Kimutai Too who was shot in Eldoret. After Lorna’s burial, the ODM party insisted the parliamentary seats left vacant by Kones and Lorna would be taken by members of their families in honour of their contribution to the party’s campaigns in the 2007 General Election.
After a spirited battle, Sotik voters elected Joyce Labosoin a by-election on September 25, 2008.
Running on an ODM ticket, she defeated 11 contestants by garnering 23,880 votes, beating her closest challenger, Brigadier Alexander Sitienei, by a margin of more than 10,000 votes.
