NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Kenya’s prime minister suspended  two ministers over corruption allegations yesterday after the  president took the same action against eight officials in moves  that will please donors but underline coalition divisions.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said former ally Agriculture  Minister William Ruto and Education Minister Sam Ongeri should  step aside for three months to allow further investigations into  scandals in subsidised maize and education programmes.

“I am taking this action because two recent investigations  … have laid credible foundations for the two ministers to be  investigated,” the prime minister said in a statement.

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 east Africa’s biggest economy.

Late on Saturday, President Mwai Kibaki suspended eight  officials, also for three months, after they were “mentioned  adversely” in reports on the work of the subsidised maize scheme  and Kenya’s free primary education programme.

Donors will welcome the action against senior figures, who  include officials from the National Cereals and Produce Board  and the permanent secretaries in the ministries of agriculture,  education, special programmes and prime minister’s office.

But many Kenyans said the moves had highlighted rifts  between the president and Odinga, the opposition leader who  became prime minister after talks to end post-election violence  at the start of 2008 that killed at least 1,300 people.

Demonstrating the uneasy relationship between the pair,  Kibaki’s office said later on Sunday that the president had not  been consulted on the suspension of the two ministers — and  that Odinga did not have the authority to take such a step.

Ruto said he was going nowhere.

“I have read very carefully my letter of appointment … and  the appointing authority is very clear,” Ruto told local KTN  Television. “I have not received any communication from the  appointing authority as minister of agriculture and therefore I  will continue to discharge my responsibilities.”

Tensions have risen since Kibaki allies were implicated in  the education scandal, then senior Odinga allies were implicated  in the bigger maize procurement case.