Joyce Laboso confident of winning Bomet governor seat
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso, who won the Bomet County Jubilee Party primaries and will face Governor Isaac Ruto in the battle for the governor seat's in the August polls. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Dr Kones garnered 72,546 votes while Bomet Deputy Governor Mutai came distant third with 8,895 votes.
- Dr Laboso is among the few women on the verge of making history if they are elected to the top county seat.
Sotik MP Joyce Laboso has exuded confidence that she will win the Bomet governorship for the Jubilee Party and make history as one of the first women to be a county chief.
The deputy Speaker of the National Assembly said the nomination process, which she won, was a tougher battle than what awaits her in the August 8 General Election.
Dr Laboso beat her nemesis, former Konoin MP Julius Kones, in the hotly contested primaries to take the Jubilee flag after garnering 115,289 votes.
Dr Kones garnered 72,546 votes while Bomet Deputy Governor Stephen Mutai came a distant third with 8,895 votes.
“For me, Jubilee nominations were the tougher battle. This is because South Rift is 100 per cent Jubilee zone and earning the ticket is very competitive.
"But now that I am running against other parties, I am confident I will win,” said Dr Laboso in an interview with NTV.
VOTING PATTERNS
She said her push for the governor's seat will be easier now that her political rival, Governor Isaac Ruto, has declared his support for the opposition National Super Alliance, which she says is unpopular in Bomet and the South Rift as a whole.
“But I do not want to focus on what my challengers do. I am just going out to the people of Bomet to sell my policies. It is up to Mr Ruto to sell his Nasa too,” said the confident MP.
Basing her argument on voting patterns in the county, Ms Laboso said county residents would be reluctant to support a governor who is "number five" in the Nasa line-up.
“From history, the people will not compromise their support for one of their own who is number two and also eyeing the presidency in 2022 in support of a number five or a number nothing because we don’t even know what that position is in the Constitution,” said Dr Laboso.
Dr Laboso is among the few women on the verge of making history if they are elected to the top county seat, unlike in 2013 when only men were voted in.
Former Devolution Cabinet secretary Anne Waiguru also clinched the Jubilee ticket to run for the governorship in Kirinyaga, which, like Bomet, is a Jubilee stronghold based on the 2013 voting patterns.
In such regions, winning a ticket is as good as winning the election itself.
