If you were to ask one of the many women and children living in refugee camps or across the border in Uganda whether the solution to their problem is another election, I will bet anything that their answer will be a resounding “NO”. Some of them have been quoted saying that no election is worth the rape, pillage, killing and displacement of human beings. Economists and businesspeople have been quick to estimate the economic losses emanating from the disruption of economic activities after the elections. We are told that the economy has lost more than Sh60 billion in revenue in the last month and that nearly half a million people are now unemployed because of layoffs and losses in various sectors, including tourism, the tea industry and the retail business. But who is counting the emotional and social cost of loss of life, rape and displacement? While our male leaders are fighting it out for the top position in the country, our women and children are shedding tears of blood. WOMEN AND CHILDREN COMPRISE the majority of refugees and internally displaced people because while men fight it out with pangas, bows and arrows and guns, women run for safety to protect their children. Kenyan women and children are bearing psychological scars that will take years, if not generations, to heal. Rape and defilement are becoming rampant both inside and outside the camps. Many women and children are too tired, too weak and too scared to report these cases, which means that an upsurge in deadly diseases, such as HIV/Aids is a real possibility. Trauma experienced by these women and their children is likely to affect their emotional state for years to come. Children in some parts of the country are no longer going to school, which means we are creating another generation of disgruntled unemployed youth. Meanwhile, our male leaders are treating the whole affair like a football match, in which they are the main strikers who will make their team win. The international mediators are seen as referees who, in the case of a draw, will issue them with extra time or a penalty shootout. But what we are witnessing is not a football match. Extra time gained through prolonged mediation could mean more loss of life and rape of innocent victims. Like the displaced woman in Rift Valley, who told a reporter she would not bother voting again because she was sick of moving every time there was an election, I am sick of voting in people who don’t care if I live or die once they acquire the coveted presidency, and who don’t say a word to reassure me that they are doing everything in their power to restore peace in the country. Kenyans don’t need another election – not under the current political dispensation anyway. As John Githongo (former Ethics permanent secretary) rightly pointed out in a recent interview with the BBC, whoever is declared president will not have a comfortable job because he will have to accept that his presidency was acquired at the expense of hundreds of lives. Who would want to rule over a country that is in mourning? How can a president declare himself victorious when he knows that his victory was gained through the blood and tears of innocent people? More importantly, what is the point of such a victory if the presidency is acquired in an environment where there are no constitutional provisions in place to ensure that the victor will not abuse his powers, and will not perpetuate past injustices? If you ask me, our priority as a nation is not to elect a new president, but to change the constitution so that when elections are next held, whoever wins will not be able to abuse the powers bestowed on him, and will have to act in the interests of all Kenyans, not just the interests of a small elite belonging to his ethnic group. THE REFERENDUM IN 2005 CLEARLY showed that Kenyans want a significant – not a cosmetic – change in the constitution. They want land reforms, they want equitable distribution of resources, they want a say in the way the country is governed. Why do we not use the next few months to pass the constitution through Parliament and to make significant changes in our archaic laws and institutions? As Father Gabriel Dolan, a priest based in Mombasa, so aptly pointed out in Nation, the only viable and realistic option right now is to “endorse a power-sharing transitional government, whose chief mandate would be to complete the constitutional review within 18 months and pave the way for elections”. We cannot have elections in a situation where injustice and inequity are entrenched in our laws, in our institutions and in our constitution. Only when the laws, the institutions and the constitution provide for fairness and justice can another election have any meaning. Ms Warah is an editor with the UN. The views expressed here are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?premiumid=0&category_id=25&newsid=115523 --- Related News: Democracy without a good constitution a recipe for failure http://www.ccr-kenya.com/?news=62 | 
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