The Geography of Peace: Global Peace Index

Kenya improved its ranking in the Global Peace Index by 9 positions over last year coming in at position 111/153. Tanzania, which has consistently ranked as the most peaceful nation in the region is at position 56/153, Uganda came in at 96 while Somalia was ranked at the bottom as the least peaceful nation in the world (153/153).

The Atlantic's Richard Florida has a great piece on this, going on to compare the GPI rankings to a range of other social, economic and demographic factors. You can read it here

The map below charts the Global Peace Index (GPI) scores for 153 countries worldwide. The GPI is based on 25 separate indicators of internal and external conflict, including wars and external conflicts, deaths from external conflicts, militarization, weapons exports, homicides, access to weapons, violent political demonstrations, prison populations, and police presence. 

 

The Ten most peaceful nations in the world are:

RANK	COUNTRY	SCORE
1	Iceland	1.148
2	New Zealand	1.279
3	Japan	1.287
4	Denmark	1.289
5	Czech Republic	1.320
6	Austria	1.337
7	Finland	1.352
8	Canada	1.355
9	Norway	1.356
10	Slovenia	1.358

Also, here are the rankings of a few nations in the region that I'm sure some of you would like to know.

Kenya     111/153
Ethiopia  131/153
Uganda   096/153
Tanzania 056/153
Eritrea    104/153
Somalia  153/153
Rwanda  099/153

In summary, Western Europe is the most peaceful region in the world while Sub-Saharan Africa is the least peaceful. Generally speaking, affluence and peace are closely correlated which explains why rich Nordic countries consistently rank as the most peaceful, most equal and happiest in the world.

To play around with interactive map,  go here.

Billow Kerrow on the lack of Social Justice for Somali Kenyans

OPINION

Social justice for the people of northern Kenya is still a mirage

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By BILLOW KERROW

Posted  Wednesday, April 27 2011 at 18:46

In the past one week, the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) has been in North-Eastern Kenya getting a first-hand account of over 45 years of official neglect, deprivation and social injustice visited upon the residents by successive regimes.

The emotional outpouring by the residents has largely been unnoticed nationally, save for the media focus on the monstrous atrocities such as the Wagalla Massacre.

Brutal security operations continue unabated, and even as the Commission was being set up in 2008, security forces tortured and maimed several hundreds in Mandera.

Section 27(6) of the Constitution requires the State to take affirmative measures and policies to “redress any disadvantage suffered by individuals or groups because of past discrimination”.

However, the Commission should pay greater attention to the prevailing social injustice rather than being fixated on historical injustices.

This week, they will be in Mandera County that is reeling from the effects of the worst drought this decade.

Hundreds face death as a result of extreme hunger and thirst, while their economic livelihoods, namely livestock, continue to perish.

The government has a constitutional obligation to provide adequate food and water to all its citizens, without discrimination, among other socio-economic rights outlined in Section 46.

For the marginalised, Section 56 further mandates the government to provide infrastructure, such as boreholes, schools and health facilities as fundamental human rights.

As Indian writer and activist, Arundhati Roy argues, the assault on social justice has eroded its definition, made us lower our sights and curtail our expectations.

The notion of equality has undergone a process of attrition and eased out of equation.

He argues that these human rights violations are increasingly portrayed as unfortunate fallouts from an otherwise acceptable political and economic system.

The TJRC members’ mandate includes investigating the marginalisation of communities, and providing redress where necessary.

Will they order the government to immediately declare the ravaging famine in the region a national disaster and help halt the region’s march to devastation?

They are aware that the region’s youth cannot obtain identity cards due to official

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, in its 2009 publication titled “Foreigners at home – the dilemma of citizenship in Northern Kenya”, accuses the government of institutionalised discrimination on the itizenship of the residents through arbitrary denial.

Can TJRC urgently address this? Section 10 of the Constitution deems that social justice, equity and protection of the marginalised are national values that must be applied whenever State organs implement public policy decisions. Will the up-coming recruitment of 7,000 policemen be done equitably?

Section 232 on public service jobs demands that the State affords ‘‘adequate and equal opportunities and representation of diverse communities’’ in appointments, training and advancement.

Representation is best reflected through the regional, county or constituency population, which roughly mirrors our ethnic diversity.

Based on the 2009 census, and without the affirmative action “privilege” for minorities as proposed by Mr Orwa Ojodeh in Parliament, Nairobi would take 569 jobs, Central 795 Rift Valley 1,814 and North-Eastern 419 jobs.

This is arrived at by dividing the region or county’s population by the national population, and multiplying by the 7,000 jobs.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Bill 2011 is also in violation of Section 250 of the Constitution as regards the composition of the commissioners.

The section stipulates unequivocally that appointments to constitutional commissions and independent offices “shall reflect regional and ethnic diversity of the people of Kenya”.

The Bill suggests that five commissioners be appointed now, and four others in a year’s time.

Which region will play second fiddle to the other? Not North-Eastern, please!

Mr Kerrow, a former Mandera Central MP, is a political economist.

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Kenyans ranked among the Saddest People in the World.

   Gallup released its global "wellbeing" survey yesterday and unsurprisingly Kenyans were ranked among the saddest in the world. Much to my consternation, Djibouti and Somali Land were found to be much happier than their other IGAD counterparts.

Only 6 percent of Kenyans are reported to be thriving and happy with their lives. A whopping 80% are struggling to get by while a further 16% are living in agony. 60% of Kenyans find it hard to put food on the table.

While the correlation between income and happiness has long been a subject of philosophical interest and hasn't been conclusively determined to be true or false, its not surprising that the happiest people in the world live in rich  Denmark (72%), Sweden (69%) and Canada (69%) respectively, while the unhappiest earthlings hail from poverty stricken nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

With the current flux Kenyan politics is in, I don't think such surveys will bear important policy implications, therefore, maybe, just maybe, inflationary pressures will shift the human psychology of the average Kenyan and make him/her go 'Tunisian' over our inept leaders

My personal thinking is: happiness has a lot to do with spirituality and a person's sense of belonging, which would explain why more Somali Landers and Djiboutians are happier than Kenyans, Ugandans and Tanzanians.

Here are the countries where a majority of the people are happy

And now the countries where less than 1 in 4 is happy

Dujis CDF Report Card

The National Taxpayer Association audited Dujis Constituency's CDF projects and appropriations process. The group wrote up a detailed report on their findings which I have embedded below.

Here is a summary of their main findings:

• 1 out of every 4 shillings allocated to Dujis was either wasted or stolen (unaccounted for) i.e a total of Kshs. 24 Million.
• Close to 17% of all CDF funded projects were poorly constructed 
• Most projects are beset with delay and are often behind schedule, if they had any.
• Those incharge of the committee threatened this independent group and tried to bar them from auditing their activities.   
• Close to 0% of the funds were spent on any infrastructure project; ICT projects, expansion of telephone networks, expansion of the electrical grid etc.            

The document in its entirety is posted below. The projects reviewed date back to the latter days of Hussein "Maendeleo's" (sic) reign.

I think this reveals the checkered nature of those we've put in-charge of our resources and their casual treatment of theft and mismanagement. On top of all our problems, finding out the money which was allocated for the alleviation of inequality has been stolen is completely unacceptable. Its all the more surprising that no one seems to be bothered by this. Not Supkem, not a single civic groups, not the local media, not G-youth. Concentrating all the roles in the committee in the hands of a few individuals from related families has given them the power to legislate for themselves when to steal and when to construct a classroom at an inflated price. Despite the reported 25% misappropriation rate, those of us that are from Garissa know mismanagement is more pervasive in the committee than this figure suggests. I'm sure when figures for the past two years are analysed, multitudes of jaws will drop in shock. Corruption and nepotism still remain the cancer that eat away at the fabric of our society.

Share this with your friends. All links are embedded below .

Dujis-2010