By Kariuki wa Mureithi BBC News Online

Mr Odinga denies he is bent on wrecking the government

Four deputy ministers over the weekend asked President Mwai Kibaki to sack Raila Odinga for being what they called "the enemy working from within Narc to wreck the government".

The calls were made by members of Mr Kibaki's National Alliance of Kenya, which formed Narc along with Mr Odinga's Liberal Democratic Party.

Mr Odinga - the minister for roads, public works and housing - described the allegations as unfounded.

The calls were made in the presence of the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kiraitu Murungi, who is regarded as a close ally of President Kibaki.

Pre-election pledge

Leading Narc and government officials have in recent days disagreed in public over key government appointments.

Mr Odinga's followers insist that President Kibaki should honour an agreement reached before December's general election that he would appoint Mr Odinga to the post of prime minister.

President Kibaki has not publicly defended Mr Odinga

Some of Mr Odinga's supporters fear that Mr Kibaki may be under pressure from some of his supporters to renege on that promise.

A constitutional review commission is currently debating changes Kenya's constitution, with the creation of the post of prime minister one of the key issues.

This process was suspended when one of its officials, Crispin Mbai, from the same ethnic Luo group as Mr Odinga, was murdered in September.

The call for Mr Odinga to be sacked has elicited mixed reactions, with some of his supporters saying the calls were reminiscent of the former ruling Kenya African National Union's (Kanu's) one-party dictatorship.

"We will not allow ourselves back to it again," a Narc MP, Wafula Wamunyinyi was quoted as saying by Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.

Strongman

Kanu - now the official opposition party - over the weekend supported the creation of the post of prime minister, which it said should be given to Mr Odinga.

11 Kanu MPs - including four former powerful cabinet ministers - said the current constitution vests too much in the presidency, rendering the occupant inefficient in running the affairs of government.

The latest row erupted as President Kibaki returned home from a trip to the United States and the UK and as Mr Odinga started a visit to Germany and Hungary.

Mr Kibaki himself has not publicly defended Mr Odinga, who is regarded by his followers as the strongman who delivered victory to the then opposition Narc in last December's general election, after 39 years of Kanu rule.