+1
I must condemn this action by the AfriNIC board in the strongest possible terms.
Choosing to sweep aside the community’s desire to hold a vote by resolution,
offering to discuss at open mic as if it were a viable alternative is as
insulting to the community as it is inappropriate for the board.
I urge the board to reconsider this action and restore the resolution to the
agenda.
The board has now placed itself in a lose-lose position with regard to this
matter.
If they refuse to restore the item to the agenda, both the AfriNIC community
and global observers can only assume that the board is cowering in fear because
they know such a vote would pass, thus the board has lost the confidence of the
membership and should resign.
If they restore the item to the agenda, this action will surely have encouraged
some who may have previously planned on voting against it to change their
minds, making the vote even more likely to pass.
Nonetheless, since the board has, in all likelihood lost the confidence of the
membership, the board should either permit the vote to proceed as planned and
act in accordance with the outcome, or, the board should begin planning for a
special election which will replace the entire board as soon as practicable.
Cowering behind procedure in an effort to limit the ability of the membership
to manage the bottom up process within the organization is contrary to the
spirit and intent of virtually every document in existence related to the
creation, operation, and purpose of an RIR.
While documents such as ICP-2 did not consider the prospect of an RIR acting in
bad faith or the need to de-certify an RIR, and while as I understand it, the
NRO documents virtually all require the unanimity of all member RIRs in order
to act, I believe the following are true:
1. The current election cycle may well be tainted.
2. The next election cycle the membership will almost certainly
insist on each board
position having at least one candidate who is not affiliated
with the current board.
3. The following election cycle will likely be the same.
So the board can, by this action, effectively hang on to power for 2 more
years, but that’s about all it can accomplish.
Now, on the current path, perhaps the board can completely destroy the
organization within that time, but let’s all hope it doesn’t come to that.
Again, for the sake of the entire RIR system, I urge the board to either allow
this resolution to be noticed and considered by the AfriNIC members at the
AGMM, or, to put in place an orderly process for election of replacement
directors at the earliest practical time and immediately tender their
resignations to be effective upon the completion of such election.
While I’m not a member of AfriNIC, the potential consequences if the AfriNIC
board fails to allow this resolution to proceed stretch well beyond the AfriNIC
service region and therefore cannot be ignored by the global community.
Owen
> On Apr 22, 2018, at 09:50 , Sander Steffann <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Dear Mark,
>>
>> The Board at a special meeting held on the 18th of April 2018 had the
>> opportunity to reconsider your request to include a standard resolution in
>> the upcoming AGMM agenda. The Board has decided not to include it in the
>> agenda inline with section 12.14(ix) of the bylaw.
>>
> When I first read this my response was WTF. Since then my wording has only
> gotten stronger so I will not write it on this list.
>> However, the Board suggests that the item can be discussed during the Open
>> Mic session should members be interested.
>>
> This is no substitution for a vote...
>
> I am not a member of afrinic, so I have no vote in this. But as a member of
> the global internet community I am appalled by the behaviour of our sister
> RIR. A board that uses a top-down attitude to silence bottom-up complaints
> from its constituency has no place in this community.
>
> Cheers,
> Sander
>
>
>
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