Kenya's President, Daniel arap Moi, has made his most scathing attack yet on Kenya's Church leaders, describing the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) as "subversive organisation Number 1".
The President made his criticisms on 6 September, a month after the NCCK and the country's Roman Catholic bishops issued statements calling for a range of political reforms before the next general elections.
Speaking at an agricultural show in Kabarnet, in the Rift Valley Province, the President warned civil servants to keep away from officials of the NCCK "lest your presence be construed to mean state support for the NCCK".
This warning - seen by observers as an attempt to reduce the NCCK's influence in the next elections - was expected to have an immediate impact, through the cancellation of permits to the NCCK for meetings and seminars.
Vital development projects run by the NCCK - including water outlets and food programmes for displaced people - are likely to suffer as government employees, fearing for their jobs, end their cooperation with the NCCK.
The general elections must be held by the end of next year. However, there are strong rumours that the President will attempt to take the opposition by surprise with snap elections, possibly early in the new year.
On 6 August Kenya's Roman Catholic Bishops and the NCCK - of which 35 Protestant churches are members - called, in separate statements, for a review of Kenya's constitution. The Church leaders want the clause relating to the election of the President altered to allow the most popular candidate nationwide to be elected. At present the "25 per cent, five provinces" rule requires the winner to obtain at least 25 per cent of the votes in five of Kenya's eight provinces. The Churches also want major changes to the Electoral Commission which is generally seen as a tool of the ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU). The NCCK also called for a repeal of colonial treason laws and the replacement of legislation which the British instituted in the 1950s to fight the Mau Mau insurgency.
Church officials and opposition leaders this week described the president's criticisms of Churches as "unfounded". The acting primate of Kenya's Anglican Church, Bishop David Gitari, challenged the President to order the arrest of any subversive elements within the NCCK, instead of making blanket accusations. "The NCCK has been wrongly attacked and wrongly accused, and we have a duty to respond," said the Anglican leader.