By Joseph Warungu BBC, Nairobi

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya has been holding his first cabinet meeting since forming his new National Rainbow Coalition government.

The meeting has been a marathon one, focusing on many key issues including the government's strategy of meeting its election campaign pledges.

It takes place at a time of rising concern about the over-enthusiastic manner in which the new ministers have gone about their new duties, leading to chaos in some sectors such as public schools.

Issues

Kenya was starved of donor funding about five years ago, but now the government and the country need cash if election promises are to be realised.

Kibaki wants a complete break with the past

Already an IMF delegation is in Nairobi for talks on aid with the Narc government.

During President Daniel arap Moi's tenure, the cabinet was a huge monster guzzling scarce public resources.

Narc promised a leaner, fitter government which the president has tried to achieve by trimming the cabinet, cutting down on deputy ministers and restructuring ministries logically by moving dockets here and there to fit his jigsaw puzzle.

These were some of the issues uppermost in the new ministers' heads as they drove into State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday morning for their first formal meeting with their new boss.

Many Kenyans on the other hand had another thing on their mind as Kibaki met his team - that the president, while working to meet their huge expectations, must restore order among his cabinet.

Since the cabinet was sworn in on Monday last week, Kenya has resembled a battlefield with 23 generals on the loose.

Overzealous ministers have sent decrees, warnings, pledges and orders flying in all directions, causing alarm and confusion among the frightened civil service infantry that is meant to heed the war cries.

Gung ho

The first area of attack was education.

There were scenes of utter chaos and even violence as parents descended on reputable schools countrywide demanding that their children be admitted on the spot in line with the new government's directive of free and compulsory primary education for all.

Then followed the health minister's order to all public hospitals to free all patients and dead bodies detained in their premises for non-payment for services rendered, and a pledge on free healthcare.

While the health authorities were trying to absorb this, other ministers fired warning shots to anyone allocated public land, including forested areas, to relinquish their precious possessions forthwith or else.

While it is acknowledged that the majority of cabinet ministers are new to government, there has been widespread concern by many, including the media, urging the over-enthusiastic ministers to slow down and reflect on the consequences of their unplanned revolution.

Indeed it was only on Monday that the finance minister himself cautioned his cabinet colleagues against making pledges which cannot be met by the current budget.

This state of affairs must have been worrying the new president as he met his cabinet given that one of his key inauguration day pledges was to put a stop to what he called his predecessor's roadside policies.