Gladys Jepkosgei Boss Shollei is the deputy speaker of the national assembly. She also serves as the Uasin Gishu County women’s representative.
She was elected as a woman rep in 2017 and was reelected in 2022 under the UDA banner.
This is her journey, as told by WoK:
Early Life
Born in Eldoret, Gladys was raised mostly by her mother, who was a junior secretary at a college. Her father, a soldier, spent most of his time in the army barracks in Nairobi.
She is the second born of five siblings. Despite their humble background, her parents enrolled her and her siblings at Hill School in Eldoret, which was one of the best schools in the region at the time.
“We were the poorest kids in the school,” Gladys would later reveal when narrating her life story.
The school was located quite a distance from where they resided, and so Gladys and her siblings had to rise at four to catch the school bus in time.
The habit of rising early became so ingrained in her that she upholds it to date.
“I always rise at 5 in the morning, no matter how late I stay up at night. It is a force of habit,” she once disclosed in an interview.
Despite her best efforts, Sholei was not a bright student, constantly conflicting with her parents due to her poor grades.
She registered the lowest marks in KCPE among her classmates.
“I was just a slow learner, so I had to work 10 times more than everyone just to get normal grades,” the vivacious legislator would later say.
Despite her low marks, she was admitted to Loreto Girls Convent in Eldoret. She got the chance because her sister was also a student there, and Loreto had a policy of schooling siblings together.
In Loreto, she still struggled with her grades, trailing at the bottom of her class until form three.
Her parents threatened her that if she failed to perform well in form three, they would force her to repeat the class.
Spurred by the threats, her hard work paid off and by the time she sat for her KCSE, she was an A student – according to her.
Passion in Law
After completing high school, Shollei enrolled at the Kenya School of Law to pursue a diploma in Law and later enrolled for a Bachelor of Law degree at Nairobi University. For her Master’s, she studied Maritime Environment Law at Cape Town University.
Her passion for law stemmed from watching the TV show “LA Law”, which made her think that lawyers looked cool.
She was then invited to Kent University in Belgium to pursue a Ph.D. in law, but instead opted for an MBA in Strategic Management at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
Trailblazing Career
During her tenure at the University of Nairobi, Boss worked as an assistant lecturer.
“I was shaking during my first lesson because I had no prior experience as a teacher. I was the same age as most of the students,” she disclosed in an interview with KTN.
According to her, some of her students at UON are now renowned politicians and government officials.
They include Murang’a governor Irungu Kang’ata, Nandi governor Stephen Arap Sang, Kipchumba Murkomen, Soipan Tuya, and Daniel Maanzo, among others.
She considers teaching as her most fulfilling job.
After her stint at UON, she was employed by UNEP, an NGO, as an International Waters Law Consultant.
In 2011, she served as Kenya’s Deputy Chief Elections Officer before moving on to become the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.
She was fired in 2013 following accusations of gross misconduct. However, she challenged her dismissal in court and was acquitted of all charges in 2017.
Marriage
Gladys was married to KTN boss, Mr. Sam Shollei, whom she divorced in 2020 over much-publicized accusations of infidelity.
Earlier this month, she tied the knot with Neil Horn, a mzungu lover whom sources claim she had been dating for a while. Horn is a specialist psychiatrist within the Chiromo Hospital group.
Her wedding occurred barely two weeks after her son, Dr. Kim Kogos, also tied the knot in a lavish wedding.
Gladys Boss Shollei is a mother to four children.
Salary
As deputy speaker of the national assembly, Boss Shollei is entitled to a salary of over sh 900 000, according to Business Daily. As a women’s rep, she is entitled to a salary of over sh 400 000 plus allowances.
