THE Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Ruaraka, Nairobi, yesterday hosted the country's high and mighty.

Police cleared the busy Thika Road of traffic as President Mwai Kibaki's and Prime Minister Raila Odinga's convoys snaked their way into the heavily guarded institution.

Imposing top-of-the-range limousines brought in members of the Grand Coalition Government for their first meeting.

Assistant minister John Harun Mwau's sleek Mercedes GL320 CDI 4MATIC stole the show among the smitten college students and truly positioned him as the only 'BOSS.'

Inside the auditorium, the talks got tough but candid as Kibaki and Raila charted the way for the ministers.

Raila wore his prescribed goggles after an eye operation in Germany last week. He spotted the goggles while ascending the podium but replaced them with a dark pair only to realise he could not use them to read his speech.

"I have become a master of glasses, but I have this dark one on because Kenya's future is too bright," he said, evoking laughter from the ministers.

At tea break, the ministers chatted freely, forming a camaraderie that defied their party differences. At one time, President Kibaki was the nucleus of a galaxy of Assistant ministers Elizabeth Ongoro, Mwau and Robinson Githae, as Raila engaged ministers Ali Mwakwere, Naomi Shaban and Beth Mugo.

Water minister Charity Ngilu chatted warmly with Justice minister Martha Karua and Assistant minister Cecily Mbarire.

To symbolise the bonding mood, they nibbled at cookies from the same plate, as media cameras clicked away.

Some declined to talk to the media and the ones who did, spoke cautiously, perhaps to safeguard the new-found harmony.