Kenya ranked among top 30 ‘good countries’, but hold the champagne

And now for the good news... Kenya is among the top 30 countries rated as “good” by the Good Country Index. Surprisingly, Kenya was ranked 26th, higher than both Singapore (which was ranked 27th) and Mauritius (ranked 36th), and slightly worse than the United States (ranked 21st).

The countries that performed the worst in this index were Nigeria, Sudan, Rwanda, Libya, Vietnam and Iraq, while the best performers were Ireland (ranked the highest for prosperity and equality), Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom (which ranked highest for science and technology).

Sceptics may wonder how Kenya managed to get such a high score, given that it performs dismally in almost all other measurements, such as the UN’s Human Development Index, which looks at things such as per capita income, literacy rates and access to health.

It could be because of the way the index is computed. Developed by Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor, the index ranks countries in the following seven areas: Science and technology; culture; international peace and security; world order; planet and climate; prosperity and equality; and health and well-being.

The ranking was created by merging 35 data sets produced by organisations like the United Nations and its various agencies over a three-year period.

While Kenya is not performing too well in many areas, it seems to be doing pretty well in the areas of international peace and security (ranked 20th) and prosperity and equality (ranked 16th).

It is doing even better than India (which got a ranked 81st) and China, which surprisingly, was ranked 108th. Both India and China are doing badly in two critical areas: planet and climate and prosperity and equality.

Development experts are likely to dismiss the index for failing to recognise that both India and China have made great strides in spreading prosperity in their countries and in taking steps to reduce inequality.

Anholt says that is precisely the point — both countries only focused on their domestic agendas and have not performed well vis-à-vis their international obligations. Moreover, to become competitive and prosperous, both countries have contributed negatively to the environment.

GDP and per capita income also do not seem to have been key to determining ranking. For instance, Germany is not among the top ten most “good” countries (goodness, says Anholt does not equate with morality but has more to do with selflessness) because the index penalises countries involved in the arms trade and in conflicts abroad, probably the reason why the United States also scored relatively badly.

BAD MANNERS

So should we bring out the champagne?

Not yet. If the index was computed today, Kenya may not perform so well in the area of peace and security, given its militaristic foray into Somalia and the increasing threats of terrorism at home. With the rising cost of living, its ranking in the area of prosperity and equality may also go down.

And if there was an index for bad manners and poor customer service, Kenya would be ranked very low. Kenyans are notorious for not returning phone calls, even when they are of a business or official nature, for not replying to e-mail messages in a timely manner, for being mean to fellow motorists, for not giving way to people with special needs, for throwing rubbish out of moving cars, and for not caring about noise pollution, which has reached epidemic proportions in some estates.

I recall a freelance estate agent telling me she does not deal with small-time flats and that she only has time for big houses in rich neighbourhoods. You can be sure I will never be calling her again, even if I one day own such a house and need her services.

As for telephone manners, I have lost patience with rude operators and receptionists, including, of all places, at the UN offices in Nairobi, where it is almost impossible to get an operator or receptionist to pick up a phone.

As for the hate speech propagated by Kenyans on social media, it makes Rwanda’s former Radio Milles Collines sound like a Sunday sermon.

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