Deputy Speaker of The Kenya National Assembly - Hon Dr Joyce Laboso
Dr. Joyce Laboso was born on 25th November, 1960 in Sotik, Bomet County, Kenya. She is the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya and the Member of Parliament for Sotik Constituency.
Joyce Laboso went to Molo Primary School for her primary education. Afterwards she joined Kenya High School, Nairobi for her Secondary and A-level education. Between 1980 and 1983 she was an undergraduate Student of Kenyatta University pursuing a degree in B. Ed (arts) in French, literature and education. Between 1984 and 1985, Joyce Laboso did a Postgraduate Diploma in teaching French Language at the University of Paul Valery in France. Between 1989 and 1991, she proceeded to do an MA in teaching English as a foreign language in the University of Reading in the UK. Between 2002 and 2006, she pursued her studies at the University of Hull in the UK, undertaking a PhD in gender and language education.
Joyce Cherono Laboso was a High school teacher of Kipsigis Girls High School teaching French between 1985 and 1989. Between 1990 and 1991 she was an Assistant lecturer of Egerton University. In 1991, she became a full Lecturer of Egerton University where she maintained that position up to the year 2000. In 2001, Joyce Laboso became the Assistant dean of students of Egerton University until 2002 when she went to Farrow House Education Center, Hull, United Kingdom and became a special needs lecturer. She lectured between 2003 and 2006. In 2007, Joyce Laboso was the coordinator, communication and media, library and information studies programmes at Department of Language and linguistics at Egerton University and served as a Commissioner of the National Commission on Gender and Development until when a political career came calling.
Joyce Laboso was shopping in a supermarket in Nakuru after a lecture at Egerton University when the shocking news of Lorna Laboso’s, her sister, death hit her very hard. She came to know of her sister's death through the TV. Lorna Laboso who with the then Roads Minister, Kipkalya Kones, died in a plane crash on June 10, 2008. After the burial rites the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) insisted that Lorna Laboso’s seat and that of Kipkalya 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 Laboso was elected to the Parliament of Kenya to represent the Sotik Constituency in a by-election held on September 25, 2008 succeeding her sister. A nominee of the Orange Democratic Movement, she beat 11 other contestants after she garnered 23,880 with a vote margin of 10,000 over her closest challenger, retired Brigadier Alexander Sitienei (a former aide to Daniel Arap Moi) who received 13,843 votes. In 2013 she again won the Sotik MP's seat. But it is not only URP loyalty that has kept her afloat, her development record has been impressive. Construction of Sotik-Borabu highway remains a key project that has bolstered the MP's profile. The construction of Lorna Laboso Memorial School, an ultra-modern girls school built under the Economic stimulus programme, is yet another. In Parliament in 2013, the MPs elected her as the first female deputy speaker with majority votes. She did not have to go for a second round of votes.
In her Constituency, Hon. Laboso has put in place appropriate structures to enhance sustainable development. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) has been instrumental in enhancing development and the community decides its priority projects for implementation, right from the sub-location level. She has empowered youths and women by encouraging them to form groups and benefit from government development funds besides initiating various projects at the grassroots targeting them.
Dr. Laboso chairs the Liaison Committee in the National Assembly which is comprised of the chairpersons of all committees in Parliament. The Liaison Committee was tasked in the fourth session to briefly run the budget-making process during the dissolution of the budget committee. Kenya was also privileged to have Hon. Dr. Laboso as the first African woman to hold the position of Co-President of the African Caribbean and Pacific – European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly from 2013 to 2014. According to the standing orders, Hon. Laboso chairs the House Business committee in place of the Speaker during his absence and is also the Vice-Chair of the Procedure and House Rules committee that is in charge of the rules of procedure that is, the Standing Orders used in the House.
She is also the Chairperson of the Speaker’s panel which is comprised of Members of Parliament who preside over the house during sittings in the National Assembly.
Dr. Laboso is also a Member of Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association (KEWOPA), a forum that provides her an opportunity to mentor women in politics and guides those interested in political offices.
The 2017 elections will be one to watch out for as Dr. Laboso intends to run for the Bomet Gubernatorial seat, a position that the Bomet county residents have urged her to take up due to her proven track record in the management of development resources in her constituency as well as her prominence in National politics.