Hugs and smiles as Uhuru Kenyatta hands over power to President William Ruto

It was all eyes on Uhuru as everyone turned into body language experts trying to see how he would act as handed over power to his former buddy turned foe.

When it was time to hand over the reins to the new administration, the former president stood up with a smile on his face and greeted his former deputy, beaming from ear to ear. If you did not know the context, you would think these two were best of friends.

It was the first time in as many days that Uhuru and his former deputy had shared a podium and hearty smiles in public.

In the run-up to Ruto's inauguration, there was much speculation about whether Mr Kenyatta would even attend the ceremony, given that he had not seen eye-to-eye with his deputy since 2018, or even congratulated him on his victory.

The fallout was so bad that the former president backed his former political nemesis, Raila Odinga, in his fifth, unsuccessful presidential bid and recently said even with a new president, Raila Odinga will remain his leader.

In the days leading up to  President Ruto's swearing-in, his win having been upheld by a 7-judge Supreme Court bench, Mr Kenyatta said he was going to respect the decision of the court, and at the same time, hand over power smiling. 

And on Monday, the former president hosted President Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto at the State House. 

The former head of state expressed his and his family's best wishes to Dr Ruto as he takes over the mantle of power in a televised address on Monday.

“My entire family and I join all Kenyans in wishing the very best to our next president Dr William Samoei Ruto and in extending to him our warmest congratulations for receiving the mandate of Kenyans to leaders as our next president,” said the outgoing Head of State.