"We are expecting that Kenyans will own the government and help it succeed," Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Church of Kenya told Ecumenical News International on April 14 in Nairobi.

The 40-member Cabinet, named on April 13, followed a bitter election dispute, which triggered violence in several parts of the country, but ended with the signing of a national peace accord in March. The agreement allowed for a power-sharing arrangement between Kibaki's Party of National Unity and Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

"Our country has been in crisis. If this is what is going to bring peace, so let it be," said Roman Catholic Archbishop Bonface Lele of Mombasa on April 14. "It's a bloated Cabinet," added Lele, "But they should in future see how they can trim it."

A political crisis in Kenya erupted after the December 27 national elections in which incumbent President Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential contest but which opposition leader Odinga said were rigged. About 1,500 people are believed to have been killed in the unrest that followed the elections, and at least another 300,000 driven from their homes.

Analysts say there has been an attempt to balance the interests of the PNU and the ODM in the composition of the government, but church leaders fear the coalition may stall due to mistrust between the two parties.

The National Council of Churches of Kenya said it had no assurances that new disagreements would not crop up. It said, "It has become very clear to us that these parties are not fully committed to forming and running a coalition government."

But Nzimbi asked Kenyans to pray for the coalition so that it settles down.

"We urge politicians to support one another since they are now in the same government," he said. "We want to say to them they have begun a journey together, that they must complete."