One killed, several injured in pro-reform demo in Kisumu

One person was killed and several others were injured on Wednesday when police clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in the western Kenyan town of Kisumu to demand a quick enactment of the new draft constitution. A police spokesman, Jaspher Ombati, said in a statement that a police officer opened fire when "rowdy youths" threw stones at police trying to stop them from barricading roads and stoning cars. The officer who opened fire was arrested and investigations had been launched to determine the circumstances under which the shooting took place, Ombati said He said that police had not been informed of plans to hold a demonstration in Kisumu as the law requires, and claimed that the demonstrators' intention was to "loot property and cause mayhem". On 3 July, hundreds of demonstrators who defied a government a ban on a rally convened in Nairobi by a lobby group called Katiba (Swahili for constitution) Watch to demand the enactment of the controversial new constitution clashed with police, sparking riots in the city that left dozens of people injured and several shops looted. The confrontation between the demonstrators and police was the first public show of frustration with President Mwai Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government, which came to power following a landslide electoral victory 18 months ago. Narc, an alliance of more than a dozen parties, has been dogged by factional wrangles over a pre-election deal on equitable sharing of government posts. One of the key partners in the coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has complained that it received a raw deal from the other groups, mainly Kibaki's National Alliance Party of Kenya. The LDP has taken issue with delays to enact the new constitution, under which the president would have ceded some of his powers to a proposed prime minister, a post which some LDP politicians said had been reserved for it in a pre-election memorandum of understanding. Critics of the new constitution, some of them cabinet ministers, have argued that the clause on devolution of power providing for the office of a prime minister to be elected by parliament would create a situation where the presidency would become ceremonial, with real power being exercised by the prime minister. They said the political setup envisaged in the draft constitution was also likely to lead to the emergence of two centres of power, with the prime minister and the president pitted against each other. Kibaki has backed a team of politicians trying to build consensus on the contentious issues of the draft constitution before it is taken to parliament. But Katiba Watch, LDP politicians and some opposition MPs have demanded that the draft constitution, which was debated for months at a constitutional conference earlier this year, be enacted without amendment. On 30 June, Kibaki reshuffled his cabinet, bringing into government several opposition politicians. He said he wanted to form a government of national unity more focused on improving the lives of the people. His opponents saw the move as an attempt to deal with the factional infighting that has dogged his government since 2002.