A diplomatic mystery is gripping Kenya after an Instagram post by Italian billionaire Flavio Briatore revealed that President William Ruto quietly visited Dubai while his official itinerary placed him firmly in the country.
The F1 legend and long-time friend of Kenya took to social media on Monday, January 6, 2025, to share a snap of his prestigious guest at his glitzy new venue, Lion in the Sun at the Mandarin Oriental Downtown in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Briatore, 75, boasted of welcoming Ruto alongside global healthcare tycoon Kamel Ghribi for an intimate dinner that seemingly stayed off the Kenyan government’s official radar.
“Last night welcoming with Falco at Lion in the Sun Dubai, prestigious guests, President of Kenya William Ruto and entrepreneur Kamel Ghribi,” Flavio Briatore wrote on Instagram.
While Flavio Briatore’s Instagram post mentioned hosting Ruto in Dubai on the night of January 6, 2025, local media confirmed Ruto’s presence in Kenya for public duties throughout January 6 and 7.
This suggests that if the meeting in Dubai occurred, it may have taken place hurriedly for Ruto to fly to Dubai and then jet back to Kenya for official duties on January 7, 2025.
On January 6, 2026, Ruto maintained a high-profile presence in Western Kenya, specifically in West Pokot and Kakamega counties, as part of a nationwide tour to launch key development projects for the new year.
Ruto spent a significant portion of the day in West Pokot County.
During a public event there, he made a major economic announcement regarding the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).
He announced that KPC shares would be listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by the end of January 2026.
Ruto also encouraged ordinary citizens to buy into the IPO, stating that even those with as little as Sh200 or Sh300 should be able to own a stake in the profitable state enterprise.
Later in the day, the President moved to Mumias, Kakamega County, to officially launch the second phase of the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) project.
This initiative, co-funded by the World Bank, aims to disburse start-up capital to nearly 50,000 youth entrepreneurs across the country.
He oversaw the first disbursements of Sh25,000 to beneficiaries, a move designed to stimulate grassroots business growth.
While in the region, the President also intensified his rhetoric against drug abuse and illicit brews, setting the stage for the multi-agency meeting he would chair the following day (January 7, 2026) at State House, Nairobi.
The reports of Ruto’s activities in Western Kenya on January 6, 2026, create an interesting timeline regarding Flavio Briatore’s Instagram post.
During the daytime (January 6), Ruto was physically present in West Pokot and Kakamega, engaging with the public and local leaders.
In the evening (January 6), the meeting at Briatore’s Lion in the Sun venue in Dubai took place “last night” (as per Briatore’s January 7 post), which suggests Ruto may have departed on an unpublicised overnight flight immediately following his daytime duties in Kenya.
Although President Ruto’s meeting with Flavio Briatore and Kamel Ghribi in Dubai appeared to bypass traditional diplomatic channels and raised eyebrows, it seems to have focused on Kenya’s infrastructure.
Kamel Ghribi, a Tunisian-Swiss entrepreneur, is the power behind Gruppo San Donato – Italy’s leading private hospital group.
Flavio Briatore, on the other hand, has had long-standing ties to Kenya, owning the luxury Billionaire Resort and Retreat and Lion in the Sun boutique hotel in Malindi.
He has frequently acted as a facilitator for high-level business forums between Italian investors and the Kenyan government.
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