NAIROBI - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has suspended eight senior officials over corruption allegations in a move that will please donors but only underlines divisions at the top of the country's fragile coalition.

NAIROBI - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has suspended eight senior officials over corruption allegations in a move that will please donors but only underlines divisions at the top of the country's fragile coalition.

Donors and Kenyans have long called for leaders in the unity government to take a tougher line with influential individuals blamed for a raft of major graft cases that have tainted several important sectors of the economy.

In a statement, Kibaki's office said he had suspended the eight officials for three months after they were "mentioned adversely" in inquiries into the work of a subsidised maize scheme and Kenya's free primary education programme.

Donors will welcome the action against senior figures.

But many Kenyans said the move by Kibaki highlighted growing rifts between him and Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, who became prime minister in 2008. - Reuters