[kictanet] Failed States Index 2012 - Kenya #16, Somalia #1, Libya #50 (???),

Ali Hussein ali at hussein.me.ke
Thu Jun 21 18:34:16 EAT 2012 

Yes Adam. Indeed it is not black and white. Well put Dr.Ndemo.

Ali Hussein

+254 773/713 601113

Sent from my iPhone®

On Jun 21, 2012, at 6:03 PM, Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 11:52 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
>> Now we are being punished for our hospitality? Surely...
>> 
> 
> Ali, yes, in a sense, see letter from the PS to New York Times written
> almost 3 years ago:
> 
> <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E2DE1F39F933A05754C0A96F9C8B63>
> 
> Might be behind a registration firewall so txt below.
> 
> Adam
> 
> 
> LETTER; Kenya's Balancing Act
> Published: July 30, 2009
> 
> To the Editor:
> 
> ''Radical Islamists Slipping Easily Into Kenya'' (front page, July 22)
> vividly described some of the challenges the Kenyan government faces
> from having the failed state of Somalia as a neighbor. But it
> addressed only one aspect of this complex problem. It referred to the
> threat from Islamic terrorism but only glossed over the enormous
> humanitarian burden that Kenya carries, preventing it from closing its
> border with Somalia.
> 
> For many years, Kenya has served as the beacon of hope for the
> thousands of refugees fleeing from the misery and civil strife in
> Somalia. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
> Refugees, Kenya is home to more than 260,000 Somali refugees. As the
> conflict in Somalia persists, Kenya is obligated to provide refuge and
> security, which means patrolling the border, but not closing it
> completely.
> 
> Kenya is also one of the Western countries' closest allies in the
> region. We are committed to working with American and British advisers
> to maintain and build our counterterrorism efforts. For our
> counterterrorism efforts, the Kenyan government has received harsh
> criticism from human rights organizations.
> 
> It is a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, we are asked to
> improve our security measures to protect the tens of thousands of
> Westerners living in our country. On the other hand, we are asked to
> provide a home to tens of thousands of refugees. High-level decisions
> of this nature are not black and white.
> 
> Bitange Ndemo
> Permanent Secretary
> Ministry of Information and Communications
> Nairobi, Kenya, July 24, 2009
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Having said that me thinks we shouldn't expend our energies on something so obviously biased. Thing is though is that we are caught between a rock and hard place as these rankings sometimes determine our financial rankings in matters of sovereign debt etc. unfortunately it's still true that who pays the piper calls the tune!
>> 
>> Ali Hussein
>> 
>> +254 773/713 601113
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone®
>> 
>> On Jun 21, 2012, at 2:43 PM, Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:
>> 
>>> Short explanation of Kenya's position according to Foreign Policy:
>>> <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/18/postcards_from_hell_2012?page=0,16>
>>> 
>>> A problem Kenya carries that many other countries do not are the
>>> refugee camps along the northern borders, and then there's the
>>> problems of unstable neighbours. But such a ranking, without
>>> explanation is ridiculous.
>>> 
>>> Adam
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Francis Hook <francis.hook at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Interestingly Ethiopia is ranked 16th (somehow its missing on the
>>>> wikipedia link but is on the other link) - one better than Kenya.
>>>> 
>>>> Recently they banned VoiP and attached a prison sentence to anyone
>>>> caught using a VoIP app.   There IT indicators are among the lowest in
>>>> Africa ergo access to information , implicit freedom to
>>>> "associate/assemble" electronically, ICT for development,  share
>>>> ideas, ability to politick online, etc are severely constrained - at
>>>> least in so far as social and political environments go.   Anyone who
>>>> has tried to open shop in Ethiopia will tell you its not plain
>>>> sailing.  Dissent is not allowed. etc etc.
>>>> 
>>>> And they are one better than Kenya?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 21 June 2012 14:03, Francis Hook <francis.hook at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Thanks Kivuva,
>>>>> On that note about NGOs (and perception), its sad to note that these
>>>>> have increasingly become a form of creating self-employment - both by
>>>>> foreigners and Kenyans alike.   Pick a cause, shed light on how bad
>>>>> things are (even if they are not really that bad) and start passing
>>>>> around the cup.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I recall there was a time the govt sought to regulate (audit?) NGOs
>>>>> and their activities - (and avoid duplicated efforts, wastage of
>>>>> resources, etc). I think at the time were some rumblings about why the
>>>>> govt should do this - if I am not mistaken it was mainly because
>>>>> certain NGOs "addressing" democracy, civic education, human rights,
>>>>> etc were drawing fire (or the govt's wrath) for whatever reasons and I
>>>>> think part of the political class that that time, who perhaps had
>>>>> vested interests, supported such NGOs activities and the whole move
>>>>> amounted to nought.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'd like to think that since 2003 the democracy has grown, healthcare
>>>>> more widely available, women's/Children's/human rights are better,
>>>>> malaria/AIDs on the decline, agricultural practices better, etc.   Of
>>>>> course I do not have a yardstick but just by living in our society I
>>>>> have seen changes. Most certainly things are better than 10 years ago.
>>>>> Thus such NGOs should have whittled down to a handful and perceptions
>>>>> of Kenya should be different already. Ironically this ranking must
>>>>> mean the NGOs work has amounted to nothing :-)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Having said that I admit there are indeed NGOs doing sterling jobs in
>>>>> Kenya and we need to support them.  But for the most part, and I make
>>>>> no apology about this, many of them are simply busy bodies that muddy
>>>>> the waters, distort the facts (or focus on the negative ones), stir
>>>>> controversy (in NGO-ese: "foster open dialogue") etc and strive to
>>>>> remain relevant in order to secure funding.  In so doing they must
>>>>> continue to paint a negative picture of Kenya.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 21 June 2012 13:16, Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Francis,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thank you for bringing this up. I think the ratings are more to do with
>>>>>> perception than reality. Most of the negative that make us rank so poorly is
>>>>>> our own creation. What about thousands of NGOs taking pictures of slums,
>>>>>> drought and starving children then run to western donors begging for cash to
>>>>>> "HELP" the poor they "REPRESENT"! This has ruined the developing world's
>>>>>> image beyond measure. Our own PRESS is also a major problem. I don't see
>>>>>> western country publish widely sensationalizing  their homeless, street
>>>>>> gangs, mafia, and grand grand corruption, as we do ours.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> In recent times, I have seen our leaders, including PS Ndemo insist on
>>>>>> positive reporting from our media. That is the direction we should seek. If
>>>>>> we instill cockiness in the direction of  narcissism, then the west will
>>>>>> stop taking us for granted.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Self Love
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 21 June 2012 10:47, Francis Hook <francis.hook at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Apologies this is not mainstream ICT but at the periphery some ICT
>>>>>>> aspects need to be considered as well...(open access to information,
>>>>>>> ICT enabling democracy/choice/transparency, ICT in corruption, etc) .
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> This index is by the US group Fund for Peace.   I wonder what metrics
>>>>>>> they are using or how they are weighting the values of the 13 indices
>>>>>>> they use.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Kenya is ranked 16th...that's just 15 steps away from Somalia (???),
>>>>>>> 14 from DRC and shares the "teens" positions with Pakistan, Nigeria,
>>>>>>> Niger among others. The lower the  score, the more "failed" a state
>>>>>>> is.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Anyway....the links:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Failed_States_Index
>>>>>>> (updated with 2012 Index)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 2 - http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Personally I don't think Kenya should rate that poorly out of a 177 or
>>>>>>> so countries...I suspect some of the 13 indices are weighted more
>>>>>>> heavy than others (corruption, criminality, political situation etc) -
>>>>>>> and if such were removed from the index, just for the sake of seeing
>>>>>>> how it shifts the rankings, I'd like to think some EU countries would
>>>>>>> be in the top 50 at least....social unrest, steep economic decline,
>>>>>>> slum creation (US - housing/mortgage crisis has seen more people
>>>>>>> living in the streets in the last couple of years than in the last
>>>>>>> half a century), Wall Street demos, etc, ...."Suspension or arbitrary
>>>>>>> application of law" (Guantano Bay still open for business, The
>>>>>>> Patriots Act).
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> And "Intervention of external political agents" - I think in Africa's
>>>>>>> case these "political agents" are usually from (or supported/fronted)
>>>>>>> by some developing countries that would want to nurture certain
>>>>>>> regimes in order to reap some economic gain...but that's an argument
>>>>>>> for another day.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I'm also surprised the use of the adjective "primitive" by Korean
>>>>>>> Airlines, to describe Kenyans, elicited more reactions than this lowly
>>>>>>> ranking...should we get all hot and bothered about what is likely an
>>>>>>> issue of translation or summon our national pride and repudiate this
>>>>>>> "failed" states index?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Rgds
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Francis Hook
>>>>>>> +254 733 504561
>>>>>>> 
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>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> ______________________
>>>>>> Mwendwa Kivuva
>>>>>> For
>>>>>> Business Development
>>>>>> Transworld Computer Channels
>>>>>> Cel: 0722402248
>>>>>> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>>>>>> www.transworldAfrica.com  | Fluent in computing
>>>>>> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> Francis Hook
>>>>> +254 733 504561
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> Francis Hook
>>>> +254 733 504561
>>>> 
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