Julius malema in parliament

Letter from Africa series, Nairobi

On 9 November, two men stood before Kenyans to deliver long-awaited speeches, separated by just a few hours and a few kilometres.

They were both live on television.

Both men are sworn pan-Africanists and both were after the hearts of a nation weighed down by heavy economic burdens.

But that's where the similarities ended.

One man, President William Ruto, wore a formal blue suit.

The other man, South African opposition leader Julius Malema, was clad in a black safari suit, with his customary red beret perched on his head.

While the president's State of the Nation Address delivered amid pomp and ceremony in parliament was received with sombre and weary looks, every other sentence of Mr Malema's explosive speech was met with wild cheers from his audience during the launch of the Pan-African Institute at a Kenyan u