When President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the nation on March 12, a blue flag placed right behind him stood out.
Unknown to many, the flag was actually designed by the President, and is referred to as the Presidential Standard.
Unlike in most other countries, in Kenya, the Presidential Standard is designed by the President-elect and thus changes with each new incumbent, reports the Kenya Ministry of Defence.
The custom-made flag symbolises power and represents the current Commander-in-Chief.
Interestingly, President Uhuru's flag is similar in design to the one used by his father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
It has a dark blue field with a version of the national shield in the centre, crossed by two large spears and a white dove on the right-hand side.
His father's had a cockerel in place of the white dove, the spears on his flag were also inverted.
"Jomo Kenyatta, the man who led Kenya to independence, also served as its first president. His first name means "burning spear" hence the spears on the presidential standard. Blue is for the skies over Kenya,
"The cockerel here and in the national arms is a traditional herald of a new and prosperous life, but it is also familiar to Kenyans as the emblem of the Kenya African National Union." reads an excerpt from Whitney Smith's Flags Through the Ages and Across the World.
However, between 1963-1970, Mzee Jomo used a flag that followed the basic design of the Kenya national flag, but with the full Coat of Arms on a black square in the centre of the flag instead of the shield and spears.
Notably, each President gets to go home with the special flag at the end of their tenure in a ceremony handled by the Kenya Defence Forces.
On taking the oath of office, President Uhuru was handed the instruments of power. Former President Kibaki's Standard was then lowered and given to the Military Provost Marshal Colonel Sylvester Chirchir who later gave the Standard to the then Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces General Julius Karangi.
General Karangi then handed over the Standard to the immediate former President Mwai Kibaki marking the end of his 10-year term as the Head of State.
The Presidential Standard of immediate former President Mwai Kibaki was white, adorned with a shield in the centre bearing the Kenya national colours between two olive branches.
For his part, the late President, Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi's flag was green in colour with a shield in the centre and a red cockerel on the right between the spears.
