Wire, Whilst I agree in principle with the sentiment, I am a little loathed to rush out and form another association. Having been party to one or two already in Uganda, you can essentially get the cart before the horse.
I do however agree we need to find out our allies both locally and abroad and lobby for more inclusion of FOSS in the countries ICT Policy which I also hope would filter to other ministries such as education etc, but this might require an additional effort or SIG. Also have a clear statement of our objectives/wants or needs would also be part of this. Something we can give the press etc. I also don't think we need to wait for a legal entity to do any of this. I see the Uganda LUG SIG, being loosely banded gives us options in terms of being mobile and fast, it seems to many lobby groups get tied down in the detail and not the work, holding pay meeting deciding who is going to be chairman etc. What advantages does being a legal entity give us we do not have already? Do we need to raise invoices file accounting returns? At some point yes! If we start doing this full time and need to be paid/reimbursed. At the moment I and others pay what we feel we can afford and the job gets done. I am not sure I want or need another company/association to worry about. We already have a name and are building a credible following in the local technology and journalism sector. Will you be attending the meeting tomorrow? I had intended to ask Elijah to maybe have some questions/ideas put to the Ministry of ICT guys in advance so as not to spook them, and allow them a chance to prepare an answer or two. I may still do that and ask them to respond at a future date. Lobbing does take finesse and the FOSS movement is still young here. Simon _______________________________________________ LUG mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
