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@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@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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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.
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