Kenyan president sacks his deputy

Mr Saitoti, vice president for 13 years, has been at the forefront of a rebellion within the ruling party over Mr Moi's decision to back the son of the late independence leader, Jomo Kenyatta, as his preferred choice as next president.

President Moi has been campaigning strongly for Uhuru Kenyatta to succeed him, but two weeks ago Mr Saitoti announced his intention to stand for the ruling party's presidential nomination.

Elections are due by the end of the year, after which President Moi is obliged by the constitution to stand down following almost 25 years at the helm.

The BBC's East Africa correspondent says that, by sacking Mr Saitoti, through an announcement on the lunchtime radio news, President Moi has greatly raised the stakes in the power struggle.

Many commentators have suggested that Mr Moi wants a loyal successor who will protect him and his family from legal action once he leaves office.

During Moi's presidency Kenya has become one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Response

Mr Saitoti said he accepted his dismissal, but vowed to continue his fight to secure the ruling party's nomination.

"I have never known in history where a vice-president is fired because he is seeking nomination, when the incumbent president's term is due to expire, but it is a worthwhile price to pay," he told reporters.

An urbane, intellectual figure in his 50s, Mr Saitoti was nominated as an MP in 1985 and immediately became finance minister, before a stint at home affairs.

He had clearly hoped to move seamlessly into the top job, but his days were numbered when he was demoted from his powerful party post as vice chairman of the ruling party when Kanu and the opposition NDP merged in March.

Since then President Moi, has become increasingly intolerant of any opposition within the ruling party to his preferred successor.

Warning

Earlier this week he issued his sternest warning yet.

"Everybody must toe the line or otherwise quit," he told a public rally in the coastal city of Mombasa.

He said the party had "no room for dissenting fellows. I shall use all mechanisms at my disposal to silence them".

Two ministers have already been sacked for publicly criticising Mr Moi's choice of successor.

Opposition

The rift within the ruling party emerged when Mr Saitoti and two other senior Kanu officials formed a "Kanu Rainbow Alliance" to push for a democratic vote to choose the party's next presidential candidate.

Also in the group is the party's general secretary Raila Odinga who assumed the post after the NDP merged with Kanu.

Mr Odinga has also declared he will contest the Kanu nomination.

Our correspondent says that President Moi - usually quite a careful, subtle politician - has thrown caution to the wind, gambling that the party will eventually back his choice, and that Uhuru Kenyatta will go on to win the presidential election.

But the move could backfire, leading to an irreversible split in Kanu, and possibly to an opposition victory, he says.