Mike 

Thanks I appreciate your alternative views and I think we should openly discuss 
as more ideas come in for us to widely share so that we can come up with a 
shared final position.

I accept some of my views might be wild but my suggestion right now is lets put 
all options on the table and work to find the best outcome.

Your points bellow are noted and welcome.


On 7/11/16, 11:23 AM, "Mike Silber" <silber.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Badru

I agree with you that these issues should not be swept under the carpet, but I 
disagree on some of the alternatives you are suggesting.

More in-line below.

Regards

Mike

On 8 Jul 2016, at 16:21, Badru Ntege <badru.nt...@nftconsult.com> wrote:

..
What has seemed to bring this discussion up in my opinion is the use of 
Mauritian law in some instances in the past by individuals to either circumvent 
or challenge the bylaws.

Why is this necessary? Why do you persist with this sort of attach on 
“individuals”. It really does you and your position as a leader in the 
community no credit and comes across as petty.

There is a need to open dialogue on how the two are aligned to prevent us 
constantly coming to this issue.

You have the issue exactly right - ALIGNMENT, not replacement!

What we also need to separate that changing the jurisdiction if that ends up to 
be the only way should never be linked to moving the HQ.  I think and feel 
Mauritius has been a good home for AfriNIC and should continue to be the home.

What we need to then do is look at what would be the ideal registration process 
for a community “bottom up” entity, and then engage our hosts to see if they 
are ready to give us that legal dispensation.  

Respectfully - I think that is precisely the incorrect approach. From my 
detailed knowledge of two jurisdictions and a passing knowledge of several 
others, we will have similar (or different) issues in almost every jurisdiction.

We have AfriNIC the corporation and AfriNIC the community and the problem is 
the connection between the two - it is NOT the jurisdiction or the relevant 
company law. If we can get that interface correct - that should resolve most of 
the issues that have been identified.

Personally I think there are some good lessons on what can be done (as well as 
what should not be done) in the IANA transition process. Seun and Fiona (as the 
most active from this community AFAIK) may want to comment here as well - but 
there are ways to ensure that the corporation “belongs” to the community, while 
the staff can get on with running the corporation and the board can provide 
direction and oversight in accordance with their fiduciary obligations.

The budget is a perfect example: the staff prepare the budget and execute 
against the approved budget, the board approves the budget …. but where is the 
community. The community right now feels excluded. IMO the answer is not to 
hand the preparation or approval of the budget to the community! IMO the answer 
is to restructure the process to ensure the community is included in the 
preparation, the input of the community is sought before approval and the 
community is aware of performance against budget.

First - that requires multi-year budgets, otherwise that process is too 
cumbersome. Second - that process can be built on top of almost any company law 
or jurisdictional requirements. 

In essence it is running DUAL STACK governance! It requires a bit of creativity 
and some problem solving skills, but it is a lot more effective that the binary 
options you are suggesting.

Failing that we can then ask out of our 53 potential regional states which one 
is prepared to give us that dispensation so we can register in that state.

Most countries allow company registrations in their jurisdiction. I am not sure 
what dispensation you are suggesting? I hope you are not suggesting we try 
create our own form of corporation? That is so capable of capture and the time 
and effort involved in making it up would be immense. I don’t think a “make it 
up as we go along” approach or special dispensations subject to the whim of the 
leadership at the time is really what we are after.

  AfriNIC can then be registered in that country as a legal entity but still 
maintain its HQ in Mauritius.

That is likely to have significant tax consequences.


My suggestion as had been suggested a few years back a body of community 
members plus some board members be set up in an adhoc committee to explore this 
and make recommendations to the community at the next AGMM.  

I would propose that we rather use the (to be formed) governance committee to 
see how we can dual stack community governance and corporate governance.

Personally I am VERY frustrated that we have been talking about a governance 
committee since Djibouti and have seen some useful documents - but no action. 
This is precisely the point for which the committee was mooted by Fiona - so 
why not use it instead of creating more ad hoc structures?


_______________________________________________ Community-Discuss mailing list 
Community-Discuss@afrinic.net 
https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss 

_______________________________________________
Community-Discuss mailing list
Community-Discuss@afrinic.net
https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss

Reply via email to