Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta will go down in history as a leader who aggressively tried to influence his succession and unsuccessfully pushed for constitutional changes to firm up his plan.
However, exactly a year and 43 days after his deputy outfoxed him to power after the ruthless and tension-packed campaign, the latest developments in the country rekindle his botched big ideas.
Politicians and analysts agree that the ongoing Bomas bipartisan talks have a massive semblance to Uhuru's foiled Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which was dealt a blow by the Supreme Court.
Some analysts have observed that while President William Ruto spiritedly opposed BBI claiming it was a scheme by top dogs to share power, some of his proposals mirror Uhuru's.
The proposals have triggered debate as to whether Uhuru's ideas were really unconstitutional, or they were opposed because of political expedience.
The talks are aimed at reaching a political settlement between President Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga -a political constant in the whole negotiations- after the 2022 polls row.
With the Bomas talks taking shape there are indications that some of the proposals could trigger radical constitutional amendments including some of those that were captured in Uhuru's BBI document.
The 10-member team has received proposals from the public with some apparently signalling a reincarnation of BBI, an initiative that Uhuru aggressively campaigned for as the country's panacea.
Lawyer Miguna Miguna recently warned against what he termed as an attempt to introduce the botched BBI proposals that would lead to constitutional amendments.
Miguna claimed that to amend the constitution, through what he referred to as “BBI 2” would be a betrayal to the people by President Ruto.
“We cannot support another wrongheaded, politically divisive and costly constitutional change initiative. We say a firm no!” he said.
In a landmark interview, with Kikuyu vernacular stations a day before last year's elections, Uhuru admitted that his biggest regret in his presidency was the fall of BBI.
The BBI push was so dear to his heart that he traversed the country putting a case for it and even rebuked Ruto several times for opposing the initiative.
Uhuru said the 'death' of BBI was a huge loss to the populous Mt Kenya region that he said should have gained more resources from the national government.
"One of my biggest regrets is seeing the BBI fail. I will ensure the next government pushes it forward. I advocate for one person one vote one shilling. Resources should be divided based on population not the size of the land," he said then.
Had the proposals in the BBI been passed, Central Kenya would have benefited from additional constituencies and more resources.
There would have been tax breaks for small businesses and a Ward Fund for the county assemblies.
The retired president had put up a strong case for BBI and even after his exit, insisted that the court's decision to block it was a huge blow to ordinary folk.
“The biggest disappointment is what the people have lost. And what the courts have done,'' Uhuru said in one of his past interviews.
"This is not my baby. This is the people’s baby. If those things we envisaged did not happen now they will happen in the future."
Since his exit from office, there have been quiet murmurs that his Mt Kenya backyard is still keen on pursuing a one-man-one-shilling mantra, saying the current resource distribution formula is discriminatory.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba, a key proponent of the one-man-one-shilling rallying call has publicly warned that the ongoing Bomas talks will not address the allocation of more resources to the region.
"As Mt. Kenya MPs, recent developments in the political scene need to be an eye-opener for us. If we fail to unite and organise ourselves properly, we might have a repeat of what happened in 2018 which is the handshake government," the MP said.
The Bomas talks are deliberating on the issue of the creation of the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition and the embedding of the office of the Cabinet Secretary.
Ruto had written to Parliament seeking to have the country’s supreme law amended to anchor the controversial National Government-Constituency Development Fund, the creation of the Senate Oversight Fund and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund.
The establishment of the office of the leader of opposition was one of the BBI agenda issues in what Uhuru then said was to end the culture of winner take it all syndrome.
The office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary, now occupied by Musalia Mudavadi, is seen as a reintroduction of the Prime Minister's Office that BBI rooted for.
Uhuru had projected BBI, which included a raft of proposals to expand the executive, as a legacy project, meant to address the country’s most pressing issues.
These include corruption, divisive elections, inclusivity, security, devolution and shared prosperity.
According to Uhuru, Kenya had reached what he described as a “constitutional moment," he said in one of his speeches.
“In 2010, we formulated and adopted a new Constitution, altogether replacing the independence Constitution. 10 years later, I am already discerning a constitutional moment."
But the President who then as deputy to Uhuru traversed the country trashing BBI as unconstitutional and plotting to dish out jobs to the big boys, is seen to be embracing the proposals through the Bomas talks.
During the official launch of the BBI report at Bomas, Ruto poked holes into the proposed expansion of the executive saying it will not address the issue of inclusivity and the winner-takes-all democratic system.
“The President will appoint the PM and the two deputies from the winning coalition. And then we will have the runners-up being the leader of the Opposition. The question I am asking myself is, have we sorted out the winner-takes-all question?” he posed.
“For example, we have the President, I am the DP, (Amos) Kimunya is the PM because he is the leader of the Majority, Jimmy Angwenyi (National Assembly deputy majority leader) as the deputy and Maoka Maore as the other deputy, what happens to the whole Nasa brigade?” he asked.
Uhuru then criticised Ruto for opposing BBI calling him a liar who was opposed to a noble project that was to change the lives of Kenyans.
"I am sad that for political reasons, we could actually deny our people something that would have improved their livelihoods and made Kenya a more cohesive society,'" he said.
Uhuru will this Thursday celebrate his 62nd birthday in the backdrop of a renewed push to amend the constitution and disaffection in his Mt Kenya backyard.
Political analyst Alexander Nyamboga said Uhuru is a man at peace with himself because most of the things he warned against have come to pass.
"It is only a matter of time before people start to openly talk about how Uhuru meant well for the country," he said.