.jpg)
**Kenya’s president faces a huge reduction in his powers, under a newly published draft constitution.**The plans would put the prime minister in charge of day-to-day government business, while the president would be nominal head of the government.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki have a history of bitter rivalry. Neither one has said whether they would back the plans.
Kenyans could vote in a referendum on the constitution by next March.
After the draft was published, a 30-day public consultation begins, to be followed by high-level discussions and a vote in the national assembly before the referendum.
Political riots
The BBC’s Will Ross in Nairobi says the draft constitution is an attempt to end the “big man” syndrome, where the winner of an election is all-powerful and virtually impossible to remove.
One of the members of the committee who drew up the draft constitution said the days of the “imperial president” were over.
Kenya has suffered from horrendous bouts of political violence in recent years.
After the 2007 election, supporters of Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga fought in bloody riots which left 1,300 people dead and 300,000 homeless.
The riots came to an end when the two men agreed to share power.
As part of the deal they signed, they agreed to come up with a new constitution.
The last attempt to frame a constitution failed in 2005 when Mr Odinga led a successful campaign to reject it in a referendum.
Mr Kibaki had been in favour of the proposals.
Mr Kibaki, who is due to step down in 2012, has yet to respond to the new plans.
Mr Odinga says he will not give his opinion because he wants to allow the Kenyan people a free discussion of the draft.