People who deliberately infect others with Aids should be hanged, President Moi demanded yesterday. 

And he said rapists should be jailed for life.

Speaking on arrival home from a high-powered Aids summit at the UN headquarters in New York City, the President declared: "The time has come for those who deliberately infect others [with HIV] to die and those who rape to get life." 

Said he: "We have to make laws that restrict those who deliberately infect others because young girls cannot protect themselves from such criminals."

Speaking at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the President said the Government will review laws to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids.

He vowed his Government would protect the vulnerable and reminded Kenyans that the best defence against Aids "is good morals".

He challenged schools and the Church to play their part in the fight against the plague by preaching abstinence.

He accused the Church of not doing enough to educate its followers on the dangers of the scourge. 

"If 80 per cent of Kenyans are Christians, why is Aids spreading this fast?" he asked.

The Government, he vowed, would support the efforts by University of Nairobi researchers to find a drug to improve the quality of life of those living with Aids. 

The President also declared his support for a recent resolution by Parliament to import or manufacture cheaper Aids drugs.

In a well-received address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Moi said Kenya would lead the onslaught against the visitation.

He defended his Government's decision to drive down the cost of Aids treatments by suspending drug patents. 

It was time to decide "between human lives and the right to commercial interest", promising to guard against abuse and profiteering. 

Aids, declared a national disaster in 1999 at a Mombasa meeting of MPs attended by the President, has killed more than a million Kenyans so far. An estimated 700 perish daily.

Speaking at the airport yesterday, President Moi warned employers against retrenching workers arbitrarily without consulting the Government.

He said "haphazard retirements" must be stopped. "There are companies retrenching workers haphazardly," he said. "If they want to take such measures, they should consult the Labour Minister."

On Wednesday, a Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) report said companies were laying off 1,600 workers every month, 20,000 layoffs a year.

Companies can now retrench without reference to the law which once required consultation: it was repealed in 1994.

Said he: "If they want to appoint their own heads for schools they sponsor the government will allow it for he who pays the piper calls the tune."

He cited the Precious Blood High School, Riruta which he said had approached him six times for the previous headteacher to continue running the school.

However, he added, the government was keen to see quality education as it paid salaries to such teachers.

Early this year, the Catholic Church closed five schools it sponsors in Kisii accusing Teachers Service Commission appointed heads as being lax, incompetent and mismanagement. The schools were reopened after some head teachers were transferred. Schools in Embu, Murang'a also faced the problem.

He announced that Vice President George Saitoti will next month represent him in Children's meeting in Newyork.

During his tour, the President said he held fruitful discussions with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank chiefs. Others were US President George Bush, British Minister of state in-charge of Common Wealth Affairs, Mr Jack Straw and Minister of State in the Department of International Development Clare Short.