Last day of work: All about Uhuru’s 10-year-reign as tenure ends today
President Uhuru Kenyatta will be handing over the instruments of power to his predecessor on Tuesday as his tenure in office comes to an end.
The President was first sworn into office in 2013 under the new Constitution of 2010 with William Ruto as his deputy.
Before the 2013 election, Mr Kenyatta served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Raila Odinga during the grand coalition government of the late President Mwai Kibaki.
The grand coalition government was formed after the 2007/8 Post Election Violence (PEV) as Mr Odinga disputed the presidential results following the announcement that Kibaki defended the seat.
Following the skirmishes that were witnessed in the country, with the loss of many lives and displacement of Kenyans from their homes, the International Criminal Court that was monitoring the situation stated 6 suspects who were facing charges against humanity.
The former ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo summoned six Kenyans, including Mr Kenyatta, former Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey, Education Dr Ruto (Education Minister by then), former Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, radio presenter Joshua Arap Sang and former police commissioner Mohammed Hussein Ali.
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That was the moment when Ruto and Kenyatta united ahead of the 2013 election, bringing together the United Republican Party (URP) f and The National Party (TNA).
In his second attempt for the top seat after an unsuccessful run in 2002, Mr Kenyatta managed to form the government with Dr Ruto in 2013.
The two worked closely together towards the 2017 election, and they also sailed through by defeating Mr Odinga who was running for the seat on the NASA ticket.
In his leadership, the president led the country in realizing its potential in food security, affordable housing, manufacturing, and affordable healthcare for all that was anchored in his Big Four Agenda.
However, towards the end of his second term, the president and his deputy became rivals following the 2018 Handshake that brought together the President and the ODM leader Mr Odinga.
Dr Ruto was against the handshake, and said that he was not involved, even as his boss insisted that he was aware of the move to unite the country through a handshake.
The Handshake ended the antagonism that had been in place between the two leaders and led to the launch of several government-sponsored programs in the Nyanza region.
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Through Handshake, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) was initiated to form an inclusive government by introducing amendments to the constitution.
Dr Ruto opposed the BBI, saying that it was a way of creating more positions for the losers in the election and that the president was seeking to weaken the independent institutions.
The BBI failed as it was challenged in courts, and was declared null and void and unconstitutional.
The president, during the campaigns for his preferred successor Mr Odinga, said that his big regret was the failure of BBI, which he said would have united the country.
He alleged that his deputy was not the right person to take over the leadership, asking Kenyans to vote for Mr Odinga.
However, Dr Ruto won the seat with 7,176,141 million votes (50.45 per cent) against 6,942,930 million votes garnered by Mr Odinga (48.85 per cent)
On Tuesday, Mr Kenyatta will hand over the power to the President-elect Dr Ruto, who will be the 5th President of the Republic of Kenya.
According to the outgoing President, he will peacefully hand over the power but Mr Odinga will remain his leader.
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