Well I can only describe this as the epitome of arrogance, that said we need to really work on our national value system. My two bananas. Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: Francis Hook <francis.hook@gmail.com> Sender: "kictanet" <kictanet-bounces+otieno.barrack=gmail.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke>Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:47:59 To: <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: [kictanet] Failed States Index 2012 - Kenya #16, Somalia #1, Libya #50 (???), 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 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail... 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. 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.