Before quitting lecture halls in 2008, it took a lot of persuasion to have Governor Joyce Laboso running for Sotik constituency MP race, Deputy President William Ruto has revealed.
Laboso's sister, Lorna, who had been elected area MP in 2007, died in an air crash, precipitating quest to replace her in the region that was a stronghold of ODM party.
With ODM leader Raila Odinga sourcing for a replacement, the party settled on Dr Laboso, then a lecturer. She was to step up and take over from the sister.
However, Ruto said on Thursday, Laboso feared that the move could backfire since she was married elsewhere in Nyanza, arguing that voters could take it into consideration.
“When Lorna died, there was a debate on what would happen, before Joyce was persuaded to run. Joyce pulled me aside and told me ‘there is a small matter I want to tell you before I decide to run’.
“She told me ‘You know my husband is Mr Abonyo and the way you know politics, it might be an issue’,” Ruto recalled.
Eventually, Dr Laboso emerged the winner, and went on to successfully defend the seat on URP in 2013. She was elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly to represent Jubilee coalition.
In 2017, she pulled shock by defeating former Konoin MP Dr Julius Kones in party primaries in gubernatorial race. She eventually beat Isaac Ruto in main polls.
Governor Laboso died on Monday and her remains will be interred at Koru on Saturday. Her husband Edwin Abonyo, described her as a courageous woman who fought cancer since 1991.
“Joyce was very committed to her work. I have never seen someone like that. We would rarely see her in the house, and every time she was there she was on her phone very busy attending to work. But it was all for good,” he reminisced.