NAIROBI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday suspended two ministers to allow for investigations after they had been mentioned adversely in the subsidized maize scheme and free primary education program.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, Odinga said Agriculture Minister William Ruto and his Education counterpart Samuel Ongeri will remain suspended for three months to allow for proper, independent and accurate investigations into the allocation and application of funds under the two programs.

"I am taking this action because two recent investigations, the forensic audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers, on the maize scandal and the Report of the Internal Auditor General on Free Primary Education, have laid credible foundations for the two ministers to be investigated," Odinga told journalists in Nairobi.

Odinga said the ministers should step aside in order for the government to conduct fair, independent and comprehensive investigations which would result in gathering evidence to determine if any individuals need to be prosecuted in these two scandals.

"I am also directing Kenya Anti-Corruption, the Criminal Investigations Department and the Inspectorate of State Corporations to jointly pursue this matter further," he said.

The prime minister said the team should review the above two reports, as well as the reports on the maize scandal by KACC, the Inspectorate of State Corporations, and the CID, with a view to recommending those cases which should be prosecuted.

The move follows Saturday's suspension of eight senior government officials including permanent secretaries and parasitical heads mentioned in a corruption scandal involving subsidized maize.

In suspension of the two ministers, Odinga cited Section 15(a) of the Constitution and Section 4(1) of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act which confer on him the authority to supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the government including ministries.

"Adequate consultations have been made within the government," Odinga said.

The maize scam was reported in 2008 when the government initiated the subsidized maize scheme to mitigate hunger that had ravaged over 10 million Kenyans.

However the program was dogged with corruption allegations and inefficiencies.

The report has implicated at least three permanent secretaries for either abdicating duty or influencing maize allocations at the National Cereals and Produce Board.

Five top officials of the National Cereals and Produce Board that was driving the project are named key culpable suspects in the scam.

The damning report released by the PriceWaterhouseCoopers shows how top officers at the NCPB sidestepped procedures and allocated thousands of bags of maize to companies irregularly.

The prime minister stepped up the anti-graft last week when he publicly requested the president to ask Education Minister Sam Ongeri and his PS Mutahi to step aside as investigations proceed over the loss of over 110 million shillings (about 1.47 million U. S. dollars) meant for the FPE program.

Odinga said the scam had tainted the image of the government and dampened the hopes of many poor Kenyans. He regretted the blame-game between the minister and his permanent secretary.

Saturday's development also came at a time when several top education officials are under investigation by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission following the scandal in which officials misappropriated FPE funds.

The major donors funding the FPE program have had a change of heart, although the bulk of the burden -- up to 95 percent of the FPE bill -- is shouldered by the government.

Both Britain and the United States have suspended their funding to FPE after an audit revealed that hundreds of millions of shillings had been misappropriated under the program.

Some 26 officials at the Education Ministry are on suspension over the scam, but only eight were charged in court on Friday.