In 2013, Mr Kenyatta crafted a narrative that his main challenger, then and now, Raila Odinga was a project of foreign governments doing the bidding of former colonial powers via the ICC. He called on Kenyans to reject Mr Odinga and assert their sovereignty. This message resonated with his base mostly from the Kikuyu ethnic group and Mr Ruto’s Kalenjin community, leading to the pair’s victory.
He also portrayed the older generation of politicians, such as Mr Odinga, now 72, as “analogue” and said they needed to hand over to the young, the “digital generation”. Mr Kenyatta matched his rhetoric with glitz and colour. He was fun, fresh and suave. He was down to earth, approachable and his ardent supporters said he was “demystifying the presidency”.
However, while in power, critics have accused Mr Kenyatta of limiting freedom of expression. His government has passed laws that have been seen as curtailing press freedom. In 2016, a journalist from the Daily Nation, the country’s biggest newspaper, was fired for writing an editorial critical of the president’s economic record.
Gaddo, the country’s top cartoonist, was also reportedly sacked for drawing a caricature that showed the president tethered to a ball on chain to depict his ICC troubles. Many were also alarmed when he vowed to “fix” the Supreme Court after it annulled his election victory in August 2017.
He is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 26th richest person in Africa, with an estimated fortune of $500m (£320m).
His family owns TV channel K24, The People newspaper and a number of radio stations, as well as vast interests in the country’s tourism, banking, construction, dairy and insurance sectors. They own huge parcels of land in the Rift Valley, central and coastal regions of Kenya.
It is the land question that haunts Mr Kenyatta and the rest of his family wherever they go in Kenya. In an interview with BBC’s HardTalk programme in 2008, he refused to answer how much they owned. Land is the source of nearly all ethnic clashes that bedevil the Rift Valley. It is so divisive that during the 2013 election the inspector general of police told political candidates not to make it a campaign issue.
Although the 2017 election did not degenerate into nationwide violence, as seen after the 2007 poll, human rights groups say that at least 50 people were killed during opposition protests.
They also warn of a worrying rise in ethnic tension, especially between the president’s Kikuyu community and the Luos of his rival, Mr Odinga.Mr Kenyatta will have to use all his skills of diplomacy if he is to ensure that his second term is judged on his pledge to deliver economic growth, rather than his ability to deal with street protests.