Opponents of the Kenyan Government have reportedly set up a lobby group to campaign against the resumption of donor aid to the country.

The alliance, known as the Stakeholders Support Group, groups together opposition MPs, the Law Society of Kenya and representatives of civil society, according to the independent Daily Nation newspaper.

The group has challenged the International Monetary Fund to tabulate Kenya's compliance with the conditions which were placed on the continuation of loans.

Donors have in recent years proved increasingly reluctant to lend to Kenya, following concerns over corruption.

But recent moves by Nairobi - notably the appointment of former wildlife conservationist Richard Leakey to clean up the civil service - appear to have restored foreign confidence in Kenya.

SSG members believe this confidence is misplaced.

"We are deeply surprised to learn that the IMF is now convinced that the Kenya Government has put in place sufficient reforms to merit resumption of aid," the grouping said in a statement read by Social Democratic Party secretary general Apollo Njonjo at the SSG's first press conference.

UK accused

The group blamed the donors' change of heart on British High Commissioner Jeffrey James, who it accused of prevailing upon the IMF, the World Bank and other donors into resuming aid "in order to perpetrate his country's interests".

The group was formed after a meeting in December to set up a constitutional review committee, and several SSG members are organisations which have been in the forefront of the call for constitutional reform in recent months.

The SSG statement said that good governance was a prerequisite to economic development and warned that "any other palliative, including the Leakey team, cannot, and will not, achieve anything of substance''.

It demanded that Kenyan aid requests be debated in parliament and in wider society.

The SSG also called for the formation of a representative transitional government to oversee constitutional, political and economic reforms, including the usage of aid.

The statement said that unless these conditions were met, any aid would end up in the pockets of a few "corrupt people".