<html><head></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>Andrea</div><div><br></div><div>I beg to disagree. They may not necessarily look at Foreign Policy Magazine Rankings but you can't deny the fact that biased reporting and rankings like this do have a certain influence on analysts. Unless you are telling me we as human beings are not influenced by a bit of 'desktop researching'? My question would be to what extent do these kind of reports influence analysts? </div><div><br><div>Ali Hussein</div><div><br></div><div>+254 773/713 601113</div><div><br></div><div>Sent from my iPhone®</div></div><div><br>On Jun 21, 2012, at 6:28 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt <<a href="mailto:andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com">andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>No, I can assure you, sovereign risk ratings are not determined by Foreign Policy magazine rankings. I've done a few in my past life at GI and they were usually *far* more tedious than skipping through shallow-ish Foreign Policy mag articles, and involved snooze-making amounts of balance of payment data and stuff. <br>
<br>I also think the ranking is off. But as a country risk analyst, I suspect the FP ranking doesn't matter much anyway. Anyone who's serious about an investment will not rely on this as a yard stick, anyone who's not serious isn't, ummm, serious anyway. <br>
<br>Have a lovely Thursday evening, everyone! <br><br>Andrea <br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 21 June 2012 17:52, Ali Hussein <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke" target="_blank">ali@hussein.me.ke</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Now we are being punished for our hospitality? Surely...<br>
<br>
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!<br>
<br>
Ali Hussein<br>
<br>
+254 773/713 601113<br>
<br>
Sent from my iPhone®<br>
<br>
On Jun 21, 2012, at 2:43 PM, Adam Peake <<a href="mailto:ajp@glocom.ac.jp">ajp@glocom.ac.jp</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> Short explanation of Kenya's position according to Foreign Policy:<br>
> <<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/18/postcards_from_hell_2012?page=0,16" target="_blank">http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/18/postcards_from_hell_2012?page=0,16</a>><br>
><br>
> A problem Kenya carries that many other countries do not are the<br>
> refugee camps along the northern borders, and then there's the<br>
> problems of unstable neighbours. But such a ranking, without<br>
> explanation is ridiculous.<br>
><br>
> Adam<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Francis Hook <<a href="mailto:francis.hook@gmail.com">francis.hook@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> Interestingly Ethiopia is ranked 16th (somehow its missing on the<br>
>> wikipedia link but is on the other link) - one better than Kenya.<br>
>><br>
>> Recently they banned VoiP and attached a prison sentence to anyone<br>
>> caught using a VoIP app. There IT indicators are among the lowest in<br>
>> Africa ergo access to information , implicit freedom to<br>
>> "associate/assemble" electronically, ICT for development, share<br>
>> ideas, ability to politick online, etc are severely constrained - at<br>
>> least in so far as social and political environments go. Anyone who<br>
>> has tried to open shop in Ethiopia will tell you its not plain<br>
>> sailing. Dissent is not allowed. etc etc.<br>
>><br>
>> And they are one better than Kenya?<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> On 21 June 2012 14:03, Francis Hook <<a href="mailto:francis.hook@gmail.com">francis.hook@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>> Thanks Kivuva,<br>
>>> On that note about NGOs (and perception), its sad to note that these<br>
>>> have increasingly become a form of creating self-employment - both by<br>
>>> foreigners and Kenyans alike. Pick a cause, shed light on how bad<br>
>>> things are (even if they are not really that bad) and start passing<br>
>>> around the cup.<br>
>>><br>
>>> I recall there was a time the govt sought to regulate (audit?) NGOs<br>
>>> and their activities - (and avoid duplicated efforts, wastage of<br>
>>> resources, etc). I think at the time were some rumblings about why the<br>
>>> govt should do this - if I am not mistaken it was mainly because<br>
>>> certain NGOs "addressing" democracy, civic education, human rights,<br>
>>> etc were drawing fire (or the govt's wrath) for whatever reasons and I<br>
>>> think part of the political class that that time, who perhaps had<br>
>>> vested interests, supported such NGOs activities and the whole move<br>
>>> amounted to nought.<br>
>>><br>
>>> I'd like to think that since 2003 the democracy has grown, healthcare<br>
>>> more widely available, women's/Children's/human rights are better,<br>
>>> malaria/AIDs on the decline, agricultural practices better, etc. Of<br>
>>> course I do not have a yardstick but just by living in our society I<br>
>>> have seen changes. Most certainly things are better than 10 years ago.<br>
>>> Thus such NGOs should have whittled down to a handful and perceptions<br>
>>> of Kenya should be different already. Ironically this ranking must<br>
>>> mean the NGOs work has amounted to nothing :-)<br>
>>><br>
>>> Having said that I admit there are indeed NGOs doing sterling jobs in<br>
>>> Kenya and we need to support them. But for the most part, and I make<br>
>>> no apology about this, many of them are simply busy bodies that muddy<br>
>>> the waters, distort the facts (or focus on the negative ones), stir<br>
>>> controversy (in NGO-ese: "foster open dialogue") etc and strive to<br>
>>> remain relevant in order to secure funding. In so doing they must<br>
>>> continue to paint a negative picture of Kenya.<br>
>>><br>
>>><br>
>>> On 21 June 2012 13:16, Kivuva <<a href="mailto:Kivuva@transworldafrica.com">Kivuva@transworldafrica.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>>> Francis,<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Thank you for bringing this up. I think the ratings are more to do with<br>
>>>> perception than reality. Most of the negative that make us rank so poorly is<br>
>>>> our own creation. What about thousands of NGOs taking pictures of slums,<br>
>>>> drought and starving children then run to western donors begging for cash to<br>
>>>> "HELP" the poor they "REPRESENT"! This has ruined the developing world's<br>
>>>> image beyond measure. Our own PRESS is also a major problem. I don't see<br>
>>>> western country publish widely sensationalizing their homeless, street<br>
>>>> gangs, mafia, and grand grand corruption, as we do ours.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> In recent times, I have seen our leaders, including PS Ndemo insist on<br>
>>>> positive reporting from our media. That is the direction we should seek. If<br>
>>>> we instill cockiness in the direction of narcissism, then the west will<br>
>>>> stop taking us for granted.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Self Love<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> On 21 June 2012 10:47, Francis Hook <<a href="mailto:francis.hook@gmail.com">francis.hook@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> Apologies this is not mainstream ICT but at the periphery some ICT<br>
>>>>> aspects need to be considered as well...(open access to information,<br>
>>>>> ICT enabling democracy/choice/transparency, ICT in corruption, etc) .<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> This index is by the US group Fund for Peace. I wonder what metrics<br>
>>>>> they are using or how they are weighting the values of the 13 indices<br>
>>>>> they use.<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> Kenya is ranked 16th...that's just 15 steps away from Somalia (???),<br>
>>>>> 14 from DRC and shares the "teens" positions with Pakistan, Nigeria,<br>
>>>>> Niger among others. The lower the score, the more "failed" a state<br>
>>>>> is.<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> Anyway....the links:<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> 1 - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Failed_States_Index" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Failed_States_Index</a><br>
>>>>> (updated with 2012 Index)<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> 2 - <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive" target="_blank">http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive</a><br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> Personally I don't think Kenya should rate that poorly out of a 177 or<br>
>>>>> so countries...I suspect some of the 13 indices are weighted more<br>
>>>>> heavy than others (corruption, criminality, political situation etc) -<br>
>>>>> and if such were removed from the index, just for the sake of seeing<br>
>>>>> how it shifts the rankings, I'd like to think some EU countries would<br>
>>>>> be in the top 50 at least....social unrest, steep economic decline,<br>
>>>>> slum creation (US - housing/mortgage crisis has seen more people<br>
>>>>> living in the streets in the last couple of years than in the last<br>
>>>>> half a century), Wall Street demos, etc, ...."Suspension or arbitrary<br>
>>>>> application of law" (Guantano Bay still open for business, The<br>
>>>>> Patriots Act).<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> And "Intervention of external political agents" - I think in Africa's<br>
>>>>> case these "political agents" are usually from (or supported/fronted)<br>
>>>>> by some developing countries that would want to nurture certain<br>
>>>>> regimes in order to reap some economic gain...but that's an argument<br>
>>>>> for another day.<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> I'm also surprised the use of the adjective "primitive" by Korean<br>
>>>>> Airlines, to describe Kenyans, elicited more reactions than this lowly<br>
>>>>> ranking...should we get all hot and bothered about what is likely an<br>
>>>>> issue of translation or summon our national pride and repudiate this<br>
>>>>> "failed" states index?<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> Rgds<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> --<br>
>>>>> Francis Hook<br>
>>>>> +254 733 504561<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> _______________________________________________<br>
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>>>>><br>
>>>>> Unsubscribe or change your options at<br>
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>>>>><br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform<br>
>>>>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and<br>
>>>>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT<br>
>>>>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
>>>>><br>
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>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>>> --<br>
>>>> ______________________<br>
>>>> Mwendwa Kivuva<br>
>>>> For<br>
>>>> Business Development<br>
>>>> Transworld Computer Channels<br>
>>>> Cel: 0722402248<br>
>>>> <a href="http://twitter.com/lordmwesh" target="_blank">twitter.com/lordmwesh</a><br>
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>>>><br>
>>>><br>
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>>>><br>
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>>>><br>
>>>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for<br>
>>>> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and<br>
>>>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT<br>
>>>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors<br>
>>>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,<br>
>>>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do<br>
>>>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.<br>
>>><br>
>>><br>
>>><br>
>>> --<br>
>>> Francis Hook<br>
>>> +254 733 504561<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> Francis Hook<br>
>> +254 733 504561<br>
>><br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
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>><br>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
>><br>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.<br>
><br>
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
><br>
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