Kenyan lawmakers and ministers on Sunday called for the head of Finance Minister Amos Kimunya amid cabinet anger over the secret sale of a luxury hotel at the centre of a graft scandal.

Nairobi Metropolitan Minister Mutula Kilonzo led the campaign for Kimunya to resign and pave the way for a probe into the latest scandal to rock east Africa's most powerful economy, with opponents questioning the stated price.

"It is appropriate that he should resign so that the whole deal can be investigated," Kilonzo told reporters, a call that was echoed by several cabinet colleagues, some describing it as outright "corruption."

In a separate statement, a group of lawmakers vowed to protest outside the Libyan embassy in Nairobi this week in a bid to reverse the sale and press for the resignation of Kimunya, who has been in charge of the treasury since 2006.

The Kenyan chapter of Transparency International also called for an independent investigation.

The Central Bank of Kenya last week sold Nairobi's five-star Grand Regency Hotel to a Libyan company for 2.9-billion shillings ($44.9-million).

Kenyan tycoon Kamlesh Pattni had relinquished its ownership in April to settle a corruption case going back 15 years, around the time that he bought the hotel for four-billion shillings.

Pattni was accused of siphoning off around a billion-dollars from the CBK in the 1990s under a compensation scheme for export of non-existent gold and diamonds in what was called the Goldenberg Scandal.

Lands Minister James Orengo, who revealed the hotel sale on Thursday, called for its cancellation.

"There is a sort of injustice in the whole sale. We must take steps to reverse the transfer of the property," added Orengo.

Agriculture Minister William Ruto said something was fishy over the sale to unnamed Libyan investors.

The whole sale is a farce

"You don't need a genius to tell you that the whole sale is a farce. Kimunya should explain to the whole country what is going on. How can a hotel worth seven-billion shillings be sold for 2.9-billion shillings and the minister says the deal is irressistible," Ruto said.

Lawmaker Gitobu Imanyara said he would on Tuesday present a parliamentary motion to censure the minister for "fraud," a move which, if approved, would force Kimunya to quit.

The government had tried to take over the hotel for the past 15 years in a bid to recover its lost cash. In 1997, the hotel was also valued at 2.1-billion shillings.

Pattni has never been convicted despite numerous Goldenberg-related cases. Local media have speculated that the hotel deal gave him immunity from further prosecution.

But Kimunya was unyielding, telling the Sunday Nation newspaper that Kenyans "should be clapping for me."

"What truth have I not told? If anyone thinks that it was worth six-billion, why didn't they put up a bid to buy it," added Kimunya, who has been in charge of the treasury since 2006.

In his first comments on the issue, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Sunday that he would call a cabinet meeting this week to set up an inter-ministerial panel to probe the issue. It is already being probed by a parliamentary finance committee.

Meanwhile, the media refused to buy Kimunya's version. "No, Mr Kimunya, the math doesnt add up," the Nation said in an editorial.

The scandal comes at a time when President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga are struggling to attract foreign funds to rebuild a country ripped apart by post-election violence that claimed at last 1500 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

The crisis was resolved in a power-sharing deal that saw Kibaki keep his job and Odinga become prime minister.

AFP