Prison Department spokesman John Isaac Ondongo said the move by the inmates, estimated at 50,000 across the east African country, was as welcome as it was surprising.

"We were very surprised when the prisoners came up with the decision and we thought at first it was a joke," he said. But "it is quite a good gesture."

Odongo said that officials had yet to determine how much money would be saved in the country's 93 correctional facilities, but the sum would be handed over to humanitarian groups.

Inmates at Naivasha, the country's biggest prison, confirmed they would forego Sunday's lunch to save money as their part in helping some of the 2.5 million people expected to require food aid just to survive by February.

"We welcome the decision with open hands as this is the first time that prisoners anywhere in the world have agreed to do this voluntarily," said Ambrose Ngare, the officer in charge of the facility.

The Kenyan Red Cross Society (KCRS), which is coordinating operations to cope with the threat of famine in the northeastern and coastal regions, said the move strengthened their resolve to help.

"We appreciate the gesture. It gives us strength to help others," said said Abdulkadir Farid, chief of disaster operations at the society.

Prisoners said they had reached the decision voluntarily once they learnt of the plight of those facing hunger through the media, which have dubbed the current crisis the "Christmas famine."

"Those suffering out there are our brothers and sisters and we need them once we get out of this place," said James Kamutu, who is serving a death sentence.

Prisoners in Kenya now have access to television and newspapers following a government reform programme launched when President Mwai Kibaki came to power in 2003 amid reports that the facilities were characterised by inhuman living conditions.

"Prisons have changed and we can afford to give our brothers some of our food rations without getting affected," said Simon Ole Sakrop, another death row inmate.

On Friday, Kibaki renewed an appeal for 100 million dollars (84 million euros) to meet a shortfall in funding to help in coping with severe food and water shortages, which has thus far claimed at least 20 lives and hundreds of livestock in northern Kenya.

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