I don't know what a failed state implies,but methinks we are better off than
Somalia,DRC,Burundi,Eritrea,Ethiopia,Chad,Uganda,Sudan (for blacks),Mauritania,Congo,Malawi,Zimbabwe,Zambia,Gabon (that country has a serious case of dutch disease),Iraq (too many bombs),Afghanistan,Haiti,CAR,Rwanda,Ivory Coast and probably another 30-50 countries who nobody ever hears of.
Infact in sub-saharan Africa,only SA can claim to have a clear advantage over us in everything,the rest of the countries either have oil (Ghana,Angola,Gabon,Nigeria) or have huge natural resources that minimise conflicts or are recovering from long conflicts and are being treated with kid gloves to keep things in balance.
The above is not an illustrious grouping and claiming to be better than them does not say anything about how we are doing but I have been hearing the story about how we were better placed than Korea and Singapore 50 years ago and TBH,I am really tired of it,we have been teettering on the cliff edge forever and since we don't seem to topple over we must be doing something right.
The IMF/WB at some point claimed UG/TZ had better investment opportunities than us,this year we were ranked above them. Yep things go around and return to the same spot.
I've noticed the youth in particular coming in to a workplace with a completely outsized notion of their own value and importance... just a thinly-veiled arrogance. May be the credit crunch induced recession is whats needed to remind us all about the value of hard work.... By Anonymous
"The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline." James Collins