Laboso's relative eying for deputy governor post

Hillary Barchok will be sworn in as the Bomet governor on Thursday to replace Joyce Laboso who was buried last Saturday.

Barchok faces a daunting task of picking a deputy as pressure mounts that he should pick a woman as his deputy.

The push for a female deputy is from women leaders and some residents.

Hillary Barchok will be sworn in as the Bomet governor on Thursday to replace Joyce Laboso who was buried last Saturday.

Barchok faces a daunting task of picking a deputy as pressure mounts that he should pick a woman as his deputy.

The push for a female deputy is from women leaders and some residents.

High ranking individuals in the Jubilee party are keeping an eye on the matter and want Barchok to appoint a woman, not necessarily from the Laboso family.

Among the women likely to take the seat are the county chief of staff Jayne Sigilai, Joyce's sister Judy Laboso, former Woman Representative Cecilia Ngetich and former senatorial aspirant Stacy Chepkemoi.

Also in the list is the county Education CEC Juliana Yegon, a former principal of Moi Siongiroi Girls' School. 

Ngetich vied for the Sotik parliamentary seat in 2017 but lost to Dominic Koskei.

The deputy governor's seat is likely to go to Sotik where Laboso came from for fairness in the sharing available leadership positions at the county.

Chepkemoi is among the 15 nominees picked by Jubilee for East African Legislative Assembly position. She failed to secure the seat.

The 26-year-old Maseno University international relations and diplomacy graduate is a former employee at the county government.

She worked as a resource mobiliser in former governor Isaac Rutto's administration before quitting to join politics.

She is also the current Bomet youth president.

Sigilai is Laboso's cousin, but little is known about her.

Before politics, Ngetich served as the principal of a number of schools. In 2009, the Nairobi-based Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa appointed her the director-The Star.