In February 2008, the now newly elected South Africa's President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was turned away by Kenya's ruling Party of National Unity (PNU).
President Ramaphosa had been unanimously chosen by the former United Nations Secretary-general Kofi Annan's team as the chief mediator following the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence (PEV).
The resultant stalemate saw international negotiators seek to break the standoff that led to thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and deaths.
However, the government side led by the then President Mwai Kibaki declined Ramaphosa's mediatory role raising concerns that he had business connections with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga.
[caption caption="President Cyril Ramaphosa with NASA leader Raila Odinga"]
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As a result, Ramaphosa tabled his withdrawal from the position of chief mediator and the role in the peace-talks to Kofi Annan that led to the formation of the transitional coalition government.
The expressed reservations by PNU saw Ramaphosa, who had arrived in Nairobi on a Friday, leave abruptly on the following Monday with questions raised on the government's commitment to the peace talks.
The peace talks saw Odinga take the newly created position of Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta become PNU Deputy Prime Minister and Musalia Mudavadi as the ODM Deputy Prime Minister.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected following the resignation of Jacob Zuma.
Both President Kenyatta and Odinga congratulated President Ramaphosa on his election.
The close relation between Odinga may have implication on Kenya's relationship with South Africa given that President Kenyatta was in PNU during the 2008 incident.
[caption caption="Cyril Ramaphosa"]
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