Four killed in clashes at referendum campaign

Four people were killed and dozens wounded in Kisumu, western Kenya, during weekend clashes between police and youths who were trying to stop a political rally in support of a new Kenyan constitution, a police spokesman said. The draft constitution currently being debated by Kenyans will be subjected to a national referendum on 21 November. "Four people have been confirmed dead, including one who succumbed to injuries in hospital yesterday [Sunday]," police spokesman Jasper Ombati said on Monday. Tension had been building in Kisumu ahead of Saturday's rally, with those campaigning against the draft constitution warning Information Minister Raphael Tuju, who supports the document, to refrain from holding a meeting there. The city, situated on the shores of Lake Victoria, is perceived to be a stronghold of Roads and Public Works Minister Raila Odinga, one of the main critics of the proposed new constitution. Riots broke out as police used tear gas, batons and live ammunition to disperse stone-throwing youths who were determined to disrupt Tuju's rally. Local media reports said that at least 30 people suffered gunshot wounds, but Maj Gen Hussein Ali, the commissioner of police, said in a statement that live ammunition was only used when a group of youths tried to storm a police station in a bid to free some of the people arrested during the riots. "The only moment when police used live ammunition was when the riotous youths attempted to illegally secure the release of arrested suspects from Kondele police station," Ali said on Sunday. He described the rioting as "deliberate acts of hooliganism carefully planned by local politicians". Ombati said it had been established that two of the victims died of gunshot wounds, but the cause of death for the two other victims was not yet clear. One of the dead was a 13-year-old boy who was believed to have been hit by a stray bullet as he walked home from school. "An inquest will be opened to determine the circumstances under which the boy was shot," he said. Some 46 people were arrested during the clashes and were due to be charged in court on Monday. The increasingly acrimonious debate on Kenya's draft constitution has split President Mwai Kibaki's cabinet with five ministers spearheading a campaign to have the document rejected in the referendum. They have argued that the draft maintains a presidency with overriding powers. Abuse of executive powers by the president was the main reason for the agitation for constitutional change the 1990s, according to those opposed to the draft constitution. Opponents also have insisted that the president should share executive powers with a newly created prime minister, whose authority allegedly has been curtailed in the new document, which was drafted by the attorney general from proposals by delegates in a constitutional conference in 2003. Critics of the new document have complained that the proposed constitution vests in the presidency the authority to hire and fire the prime minister. Supporters of the draft constitution, for their part, have argued that presidential powers have been significantly curtailed in the proposed basic law. They point out, for example, that under the new document all presidential appointments must be vetted by parliament and the president must share executive power with various constitutional commissions and the proposed district governments. Both sides have also differed on details on the devolution of powers from the national government to the proposed district governments.