Senegal President Faye and PM Sonko's bromance is giving Kenyans UhuRuto flashbacks

Kenyans have noted the peculiar similarities between the Senegalese presidential pair and that of Kenya's UhuRuto during the first year of the Jubilee regime.

During their campaigns, through to their first term in office then-President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto displayed an almost-unbreakable bromance as they stepped out wearing matching suits and ties, capturing the imagination of Kenyans.

One particularly memorable instance was when the UhuRuto duo walked out of the State House doors to name their cabinet - they both wore white shirts and sleek red ties.

To further buttress their blossoming political relationship, they both rolled up their sleeves as they strutted down the State House corridors, with the cameras relentlessly clicking their way.

The bromance did not last to the end of UhuRuto's second term in office, where the two took different political paths, even accusing each other of betrayal. 

More than ten years after that unforgettable political display, Senegal's new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko appear to be walking in the same shoes the Jubilee pair did.

Photos circulating online show the two youthful Senegalese leaders looking sharp wearing matching dark suits - all down to the tie.

President Faye and his bosom buddy Sonko, just like UhuRuto, are a pair with somewhat similar political fortunes, having emerged as the nation's overwhelming youthful favorites while also battling court cases and politically-motivated incarcerations.

However, their bromance, has left tongues wagging with some reading doom in the entire affair.

Kenyan media practitioner Dennis Onsarigo was one of the prominent voices who joined the chorus of unimpressed Kenyans warning that a political bromance as this was a risky affair and not necessarily sustainable when it actually came to governing.

"It MUST never start like this.… it doesn't end well. There is a very big difference between capturing power together and governing," he said. 

"The president’s whisperers and the gatekeepers must get down to work. This is not their government, it's the president’s government. It's politics. Not love. Nothing personal..."

Someone else drew comparisons from various other such unions, saying, "That sense of deja vu brings an eerie feeling especially when we remember Burkina Faso's  Thomas Sankara and his best friend Blaise Campaorè, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya too. Predictably, Senegal is poised to repeat the same feat!"

A keen observer also travelled down memory lane, to the days of the founding President Jomo Kenyatta and his friend-turned-foe Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, "They both started off wearing matching Luo bearded hats. We all know what happened not too long after!" he noted.

Shortly after he was sworn into office, Faye appointed firebrand politician and key backer Ousmane Sonko as prime minister pledging systemic change after years of deadly turmoil under his predecessor, Macky Sall, a political opponent of Sonko.

"There will be no question of leaving him (Faye) alone to assume this heavy responsibility”, Sonko then said.

Faye, 44, has never previously held elected office. He swept to a first-round victory on a promise of radical reform just 10 days after being released from prison.