Joyce Laboso: Bomet Governor Dies at 58 for Cancer

Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso

Governor Laboso passed on at Nairobi Hospital on Monday, July 29 - The governor jetted back to the country on July 14 from abroad where she went to seek treatment. Barely hours before her passing was confirmed, a statement was released requesting minimum visits as she "recuperated" Bomet governor Joyce Cherono Laboso has passed on at the age of 58.

Laboso died on Monday, July 29, at Nairobi Hospital where she was undergoing treatment.Her passing came barely hours after doctors requested minimum visits to allow her enough bed rest at the facility where she was admitted upon her return from treatment abroad.

Bomet governor Joyce Laboso dies

The county boss was battling cancer although that had not been made public. Her sudden death comes about two weeks after she jetted back to the country from the United Kingdom and India. Raila Odinga and Manoah Esipisu paid a visit to Laboso back in June as she was beginning treatment abroad. 

Photo: Raila Odinga visiting Joyce Laboso in hospital 

Governor Laboso's illness, which remained a tightly-guarded secret until her passing, first came to light when photos of ODM party leader Raila Odinga and Kenya’s High Commissioner to the UK Manoah Esipisu visiting her in a London hospital emerged. Her body has since been moved to the Lee funeral home. News of Laboso’s death hit leaders and Kenyans at large quite hard for a number of significant reasons.

The mother of three boys, whose political career took off as late as 2008 was a woman of many firsts. Having floored her fierce rival Isaac Ruto for the Bomet gubernatorial seat in 2017, Laboso sealed her place in the Kenyan history books as the first female governor since the inception of the post.

In 2013, she became the first female deputy speaker of the National Assembly after General Election.

By Daniel Mutuva