Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

[Badru Ntege]

Ali

Thanks for highlighting the issues bellow.  Some board members have claimed 
championing transparency but I think we all need to have the same definition of 
the word.

The issue of publishing the minutes was a community mandate to the board not a 
board initiative.  I also like the issue on declaring interest.

However the community is not blind and eventually the truth comes out as we saw 
in Nairobi where the community spoke resoundingly in both ASO and board 
elections.

Regards

Sent from my iPhone

On 5 Jun 2017, at 12:39, Ali Hussein 
> wrote:

Mark and all

Let's raise the bar on transparency and proper reporting is super critical.

For example a quick perusal of the Afrinic Website tells me that:-

1. The last minutes posted were in February this year. I see there was another 
Board meeting in April which has no minutes posted yet. Can we try and ensure 
that board minutes are available for circulation online within 2 weeks of the 
meeting being held?

2. It is common best practice for Board members to declare their interests (if 
any) before any board meeting and these to be duly recorded in the minutes. 
This will go a long way in enhancing the transparency conversation.

3.  I also note that in the February Board minutes that agenda Item No. 5 on 
Committees there are no committee reports for Audit and Remuneration. Also no 
other board committee reports have been presented.
Question:- why are there no reports on the Audit and Remuneration reports 
committees? Is this an oversight or were they simply not ready? Can the Board 
consider making the other committee reports available to the community?

4. It is now also standard for organizations to publish a Sustainability 
Report. Most public for profit companies in Kenya now publish a sustainability 
report. This is even more critical in an Organisation like Afrinic. To give us 
a sample of what this may look like please see Safaricom's 2016 Sustainability 
Report below:-

https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Resources_Downloads/sustainabilityreport_2016.pdf

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113


Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

On 5 Jun 2017, at 11:37 AM, Mark Elkins 
> wrote:


I agree with you Ali. When Andrew first campaigned to be a Board member, one of 
his goals was increased transparency. I believe that he has helped, with the 
rest of the Board, achieve this. Transparency though is an ongoing process and 
its a pity that Andrew was not re-elected to continue assisting in that process.

Regarding Andrews points:

a) Travel in Africa is not cheap. Rather than just a single line for travel, 
I'd like to see it a bit more broken up though, categorised something like;
 i) Training sessions 10, people 20, cost $10,000
 ii) Meetings 2, people 40, cost $20,000
 iii) Board Travel 8, trips 32, cost $20,000

(or something like that)

b - d) Again, I'd like to see a bit more break down, especially in the case of 
unaudited organisations. On d), the ASO/NRO fees are proportionally paid by 
RIRs. AfriNIC does pay the lowest proportion.

e) I think the moratorium on Business class travel should be maintained, but 
have the option to upgrade their flights at their expense. When flying for 
AfriNIC, I was given a Priority Pass card. That privilege should stay to give 
people access to lounges.  I'm happy the CEO flies business (at his 
discretion). If it was a long flight (ARIN, USA) and overnight and that Board 
member is the only AfriNIC representative and was presenting the "AfriNIC" 
slides, let them fly business. I did that once (but travelled economy).

On 05/06/2017 08:21, Ali Hussein wrote:
Andrew

You raise pertinent and important issues.

The rule of thumb for any public organization is that Transparency trumps (no 
pun intended) everything else.

If I were asked and was a member of the Board, I'd advocate for FULL disclosure 
on financial and operational matters. How money was spent, how much, what was 
the impact, who received it etc. That in my humble opinion is the best policy. 
Let us err on the side of too much information as opposed to too little 
information.

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113


Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

On 5 Jun 2017, at 8:42 AM, Andrew Alston 
> wrote:

Hi All,

So – I want to open a bit of a discussion about transparency, specifically, 
financial transparency.

In order to get this started – let me ask a few questions of all of you –

While we 

[Community-Discuss] Theresa May says the internet must now be regulated following London Bridge terror attack

[Abdirashid Ibrahim Abdirahman]

Dear All,


Donald Trump please something similar to Theresa May about internet regulation. 
It seems that the world powers are now promoting actions against the internet 
freedem. This below piece was published by the independent.co.uk journal - see 
the below.


"New international agreements should be introduced to regulate the internet in 
the light of the London Bridge terror attack, Theresa May has said. The Prime 
Minister said introducing new rules for cyberspace would “deprive the 
extremists of their safe spaces online” and that technology firms were not 
currently doing enough.

The Prime Minister made the comments outside Downing Street on Sunday morning 
in the aftermath of the van and knife attack that saw seven people killed and 
dozens injured.

“We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed – yet that is 
precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based 
services provide,” Ms May said.

“We need to work with allied democratic governments to reach international 
agreements to regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and 
terrorism planning.”

The call was one plank in Ms May’s speech following the attack. The Prime 
Minister also said Britain was too tolerant of extremism and that “pluralistic” 
British values had to be established as superior.

She warned there was “a new trend in the threat we face” and that while the 
three recent terror attacks in the UK were not linked by “common networks”, 
they were “bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamic extremism”.

The Conservative manifesto pledges regulation of the internet, including 
forcing internet providers to participate in counter-extremism drives and 
making it more difficult to access pornography.

Ms May’s speech is thought to be the first time she has publicly called for 
international cooperation in bringing forward more red tape to cyberspace, 
however.

The intervention comes after the introduction of the Investigatory Powers Act 
2016 – dubbed the “Snooper’s Charter” – which expands the powers of spying 
agencies and the Government over the internet.

The Act, championed by Ms May, requires internet service providers to maintain 
a list of visited websites for all internet users for a year and gives 
intelligence agencies more powers to intercept online communications. Police 
can access the stored browsing history without any warrant or court order.

The PM’s comments come after the third terror attack on the UK in three months. 
A car and knife attack on Westminster in March left five people dead, while a 
bomb attack at a concert in Manchester two weeks ago killed 22




Mr. Abdirashid Ibrahim Abdirahman
Marodijeh International University
Somaliland

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

Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

[Ali Hussein]

Andrew

This is noted. However, I stand by my assertions that transparency requires a 
public Organisation like Afrinic to publish said reports - redacted or not. 
It's imperative that the community understands the goings on in such 
interactions. Unless of course Afrinic claims 'National Security' status? :-)

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113 

Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

> On 5 Jun 2017, at 12:54 PM, Andrew Alston  
> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ali,
>  
> Unfortunately due to constraints on the NDA – I cannot divulge the contents 
> of the audit-co report – but I would also like these reports published, or at 
> least, a redacted version of said reports.  I could understand why an 
> internal board report on audit may not be published in its full totality 
> because sometimes those reports can contain some pretty sensitive 
> information, but I would like to see the board publishing at the very least a 
> redacted version of the same.
>  
> I would say similar applies to the other committee reports – where the board 
> is publishing the reports produced by the committees – and where necessary 
> really sensitive information can be redacted and be cleared indicated that 
> there were redactions made.
>  
> Thanks
>  
> Andrew
>  
>  
> From: Ali Hussein [mailto:a...@hussein.me.ke] 
> Sent: 05 June 2017 12:29
> To: m...@posix.co.za
> Cc: community-discuss@afrinic.net
> Subject: Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency
>  
> Mark and all
>  
> Let's raise the bar on transparency and proper reporting is super critical.
>  
> For example a quick perusal of the Afrinic Website tells me that:-
>  
> 1. The last minutes posted were in February this year. I see there was 
> another Board meeting in April which has no minutes posted yet. Can we try 
> and ensure that board minutes are available for circulation online within 2 
> weeks of the meeting being held?
>  
> 2. It is common best practice for Board members to declare their interests 
> (if any) before any board meeting and these to be duly recorded in the 
> minutes. This will go a long way in enhancing the transparency conversation. 
>  
> 3.  I also note that in the February Board minutes that agenda Item No. 5 on 
> Committees there are no committee reports for Audit and Remuneration. Also no 
> other board committee reports have been presented. 
> Question:- why are there no reports on the Audit and Remuneration reports 
> committees? Is this an oversight or were they simply not ready? Can the Board 
> consider making the other committee reports available to the community?
>  
> 4. It is now also standard for organizations to publish a Sustainability 
> Report. Most public for profit companies in Kenya now publish a 
> sustainability report. This is even more critical in an Organisation like 
> Afrinic. To give us a sample of what this may look like please see 
> Safaricom's 2016 Sustainability Report below:-
>  
> https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Resources_Downloads/sustainabilityreport_2016.pdf
>  
> Ali Hussein
> Principal
> Hussein & Associates
> +254 0713 601113 
>  
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
> Skype: abu-jomo
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>  
> "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
> habit."  ~ Aristotle
>  
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On 5 Jun 2017, at 11:37 AM, Mark Elkins  wrote:
> 
> I agree with you Ali. When Andrew first campaigned to be a Board member, one 
> of his goals was increased transparency. I believe that he has helped, with 
> the rest of the Board, achieve this. Transparency though is an ongoing 
> process and its a pity that Andrew was not re-elected to continue assisting 
> in that process.
> 
> Regarding Andrews points:
> 
> a) Travel in Africa is not cheap. Rather than just a single line for travel, 
> I'd like to see it a bit more broken up though, categorised something like;
>  i) Training sessions 10, people 20, cost $10,000
>  ii) Meetings 2, people 40, cost $20,000
>  iii) Board Travel 8, trips 32, cost $20,000
> 
> (or something like that)
> 
> b - d) Again, I'd like to see a bit more break down, especially in the case 
> of unaudited organisations. On d), the ASO/NRO fees are proportionally paid 
> by RIRs. AfriNIC does pay the lowest proportion.
> 
> e) I think the moratorium on Business class travel should be maintained, but 
> have the option to upgrade their flights at their expense. When flying for 
> AfriNIC, I was given a Priority Pass card. That privilege should stay to give 
> people access to lounges.  I'm happy the CEO flies business (at his 
> discretion). If it was a long flight (ARIN, USA) and overnight and that Board 
> member is the only AfriNIC representative and was 

Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

[Andrew Alston]

Hi Ali,

Unfortunately due to constraints on the NDA – I cannot divulge the contents of 
the audit-co report – but I would also like these reports published, or at 
least, a redacted version of said reports.  I could understand why an internal 
board report on audit may not be published in its full totality because 
sometimes those reports can contain some pretty sensitive information, but I 
would like to see the board publishing at the very least a redacted version of 
the same.

I would say similar applies to the other committee reports – where the board is 
publishing the reports produced by the committees – and where necessary really 
sensitive information can be redacted and be cleared indicated that there were 
redactions made.

Thanks

Andrew


From: Ali Hussein [mailto:a...@hussein.me.ke]
Sent: 05 June 2017 12:29
To: m...@posix.co.za
Cc: community-discuss@afrinic.net
Subject: Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

Mark and all

Let's raise the bar on transparency and proper reporting is super critical.

For example a quick perusal of the Afrinic Website tells me that:-

1. The last minutes posted were in February this year. I see there was another 
Board meeting in April which has no minutes posted yet. Can we try and ensure 
that board minutes are available for circulation online within 2 weeks of the 
meeting being held?

2. It is common best practice for Board members to declare their interests (if 
any) before any board meeting and these to be duly recorded in the minutes. 
This will go a long way in enhancing the transparency conversation.

3.  I also note that in the February Board minutes that agenda Item No. 5 on 
Committees there are no committee reports for Audit and Remuneration. Also no 
other board committee reports have been presented.
Question:- why are there no reports on the Audit and Remuneration reports 
committees? Is this an oversight or were they simply not ready? Can the Board 
consider making the other committee reports available to the community?

4. It is now also standard for organizations to publish a Sustainability 
Report. Most public for profit companies in Kenya now publish a sustainability 
report. This is even more critical in an Organisation like Afrinic. To give us 
a sample of what this may look like please see Safaricom's 2016 Sustainability 
Report below:-

https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Resources_Downloads/sustainabilityreport_2016.pdf

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113


Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: 
http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
habit."  ~ Aristotle



Sent from my iPad

On 5 Jun 2017, at 11:37 AM, Mark Elkins 
> wrote:

I agree with you Ali. When Andrew first campaigned to be a Board member, one of 
his goals was increased transparency. I believe that he has helped, with the 
rest of the Board, achieve this. Transparency though is an ongoing process and 
its a pity that Andrew was not re-elected to continue assisting in that process.

Regarding Andrews points:

a) Travel in Africa is not cheap. Rather than just a single line for travel, 
I'd like to see it a bit more broken up though, categorised something like;
 i) Training sessions 10, people 20, cost $10,000
 ii) Meetings 2, people 40, cost $20,000
 iii) Board Travel 8, trips 32, cost $20,000

(or something like that)

b - d) Again, I'd like to see a bit more break down, especially in the case of 
unaudited organisations. On d), the ASO/NRO fees are proportionally paid by 
RIRs. AfriNIC does pay the lowest proportion.

e) I think the moratorium on Business class travel should be maintained, but 
have the option to upgrade their flights at their expense. When flying for 
AfriNIC, I was given a Priority Pass card. That privilege should stay to give 
people access to lounges.  I'm happy the CEO flies business (at his 
discretion). If it was a long flight (ARIN, USA) and overnight and that Board 
member is the only AfriNIC representative and was presenting the "AfriNIC" 
slides, let them fly business. I did that once (but travelled economy).

On 05/06/2017 08:21, Ali Hussein wrote:
Andrew

You raise pertinent and important issues.

The rule of thumb for any public organization is that Transparency trumps (no 
pun intended) everything else.

If I were asked and was a member of the Board, I'd advocate for FULL disclosure 
on financial and operational matters. How money was spent, how much, what was 
the impact, who received it etc. That in my humble opinion is the best policy. 
Let us err on the side of too much information as opposed to too little 
information.
Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113


Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

[Ali Hussein]

Mark and all

Let's raise the bar on transparency and proper reporting is super critical.

For example a quick perusal of the Afrinic Website tells me that:-

1. The last minutes posted were in February this year. I see there was another 
Board meeting in April which has no minutes posted yet. Can we try and ensure 
that board minutes are available for circulation online within 2 weeks of the 
meeting being held?

2. It is common best practice for Board members to declare their interests (if 
any) before any board meeting and these to be duly recorded in the minutes. 
This will go a long way in enhancing the transparency conversation. 

3.  I also note that in the February Board minutes that agenda Item No. 5 on 
Committees there are no committee reports for Audit and Remuneration. Also no 
other board committee reports have been presented. 
Question:- why are there no reports on the Audit and Remuneration reports 
committees? Is this an oversight or were they simply not ready? Can the Board 
consider making the other committee reports available to the community?

4. It is now also standard for organizations to publish a Sustainability 
Report. Most public for profit companies in Kenya now publish a sustainability 
report. This is even more critical in an Organisation like Afrinic. To give us 
a sample of what this may look like please see Safaricom's 2016 Sustainability 
Report below:-

https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Resources_Downloads/sustainabilityreport_2016.pdf

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113 

Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

> On 5 Jun 2017, at 11:37 AM, Mark Elkins  wrote:
> 
> I agree with you Ali. When Andrew first campaigned to be a Board member, one 
> of his goals was increased transparency. I believe that he has helped, with 
> the rest of the Board, achieve this. Transparency though is an ongoing 
> process and its a pity that Andrew was not re-elected to continue assisting 
> in that process.
> 
> Regarding Andrews points:
> 
> a) Travel in Africa is not cheap. Rather than just a single line for travel, 
> I'd like to see it a bit more broken up though, categorised something like;
>  i) Training sessions 10, people 20, cost $10,000
>  ii) Meetings 2, people 40, cost $20,000
>  iii) Board Travel 8, trips 32, cost $20,000
> 
> (or something like that)
> b - d) Again, I'd like to see a bit more break down, especially in the case 
> of unaudited organisations. On d), the ASO/NRO fees are proportionally paid 
> by RIRs. AfriNIC does pay the lowest proportion. 
> e) I think the moratorium on Business class travel should be maintained, but 
> have the option to upgrade their flights at their expense. When flying for 
> AfriNIC, I was given a Priority Pass card. That privilege should stay to give 
> people access to lounges.  I'm happy the CEO flies business (at his 
> discretion). If it was a long flight (ARIN, USA) and overnight and that Board 
> member is the only AfriNIC representative and was presenting the "AfriNIC" 
> slides, let them fly business. I did that once (but travelled economy).
> 
>> On 05/06/2017 08:21, Ali Hussein wrote:
>> Andrew
>> 
>> You raise pertinent and important issues. 
>> 
>> The rule of thumb for any public organization is that Transparency trumps 
>> (no pun intended) everything else. 
>> 
>> If I were asked and was a member of the Board, I'd advocate for FULL 
>> disclosure on financial and operational matters. How money was spent, how 
>> much, what was the impact, who received it etc. That in my humble opinion is 
>> the best policy. Let us err on the side of too much information as opposed 
>> to too little information.
>> 
>> Ali Hussein
>> Principal
>> Hussein & Associates
>> +254 0713 601113 
>> 
>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>> Skype: abu-jomo
>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>> 
>> "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
>> habit."  ~ Aristotle
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>> On 5 Jun 2017, at 8:42 AM, Andrew Alston  
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi All,
>>>  
>>> So – I want to open a bit of a discussion about transparency, specifically, 
>>> financial transparency.
>>>  
>>> In order to get this started – let me ask a few questions of all of you –
>>>  
>>> While we talk about transparency and how it is required – can we analyze 
>>> for a moment as to the level of transparency we want.   So, to kick this 
>>> discussion off, let me start by asking some basic questions that we can use 
>>> as the starting point for this discussion.
>>>  
>>> a.) How much detail should the board and AfriNIC be supplying us as 
>>> regards how the money we pay towards IP resources is spent.  Is it 
>>> sufficient to show an aggregated line item that refers to 

Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

[Mark Elkins]

I agree with you Ali. When Andrew first campaigned to be a Board member,
one of his goals was increased transparency. I believe that he has
helped, with the rest of the Board, achieve this. Transparency though is
an ongoing process and its a pity that Andrew was not re-elected to
continue assisting in that process.

Regarding Andrews points:

a) Travel in Africa is not cheap. Rather than just a single line for
travel, I'd like to see it a bit more broken up though, categorised
something like;
 i) Training sessions 10, people 20, cost $10,000
 ii) Meetings 2, people 40, cost $20,000
 iii) Board Travel 8, trips 32, cost $20,000

(or something like that)

b - d) Again, I'd like to see a bit more break down, especially in the
case of unaudited organisations. On d), the ASO/NRO fees are
proportionally paid by RIRs. AfriNIC does pay the lowest proportion.

e) I think the moratorium on Business class travel should be maintained,
but have the option to upgrade their flights at their expense. When
flying for AfriNIC, I was given a Priority Pass card. That privilege
should stay to give people access to lounges.  I'm happy the CEO flies
business (at his discretion). If it was a long flight (ARIN, USA) and
overnight and that Board member is the only AfriNIC representative and
was presenting the "AfriNIC" slides, let them fly business. I did that
once (but travelled economy).


On 05/06/2017 08:21, Ali Hussein wrote:
> Andrew
>
> You raise pertinent and important issues. 
>
> The rule of thumb for any public organization is that Transparency
> trumps (no pun intended) everything else. 
>
> If I were asked and was a member of the Board, I'd advocate for FULL
> disclosure on financial and operational matters. How money was spent,
> how much, what was the impact, who received it etc. That in my humble
> opinion is the best policy. Let us err on the side of too much
> information as opposed to too little information.
>
> *Ali Hussein*
> *Principal*
> *Hussein & Associates*
> +254 0713 601113 
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>
>
> "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act
> but a habit."  ~ Aristotle
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 5 Jun 2017, at 8:42 AM, Andrew Alston
>  > wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>>  
>>
>> So – I want to open a bit of a discussion about transparency,
>> specifically, financial transparency.
>>
>>  
>>
>> In order to get this started – let me ask a few questions of all of you –
>>
>>  
>>
>> While we talk about transparency and how it is required – can we
>> analyze for a moment as to the level of transparency we want.   So,
>> to kick this discussion off, let me start by asking some basic
>> questions that we can use as the starting point for this discussion.
>>
>>  
>>
>> a.) How much detail should the board and AfriNIC be supplying us
>> as regards how the money we pay towards IP resources is spent.  Is it
>> sufficient to show an aggregated line item that refers to travel
>> expenses for example, or do we want to see some kind of a breakdown
>> on what that money is being spent on (considering that travel makes
>> up 10% of the total revenue)
>>
>> b.)How much detail should the board and AfriNIC be supplying us
>> as members as regards other large scale line items – specifically –
>> we spend hundreds of thousands each year on meeting expenses – should
>> we be asking for a breakdown on what those meeting expenses are – or
>> are we happy with the organization spending that kind of money under
>> a single large line item.
>>
>> c.) When AfriNIC is giving money to other organizations for
>> sponsorship – what level of transparency and accountability should be
>> required from those organizations.  Is it acceptable that AFRINIC
>> makes a decision to give money to organizations that have no formal
>> incorporation, no audited financial statements and no board of their
>> own, or should AFRINIC be scrutinizing those that they give money to
>> far more closely, and asking for the same level of transparency from
>> those that they give money to that we require from them.
>>
>> d.)When AFRINIC is funding organizations such as the ASO/NRO –
>> how much transparency should be supplied back to the members about
>> how that money is being spent and what that funding is actually being
>> used for.
>>
>> e.)When AFRINIC is funding board travel to meetings around the
>> world – should board members be able to attend these conferences
>> without ever supplying reports about what was accomplished at said
>> meetings and what the purpose of the expenditure was, or are we
>> prepared to accept that these meetings must be useful without further
>> questions.
>>
>>  
>>
>> Remember, every cent spent by AfriNIC can have an impact on our fees,
>> and impacts the bottom line of the company.  Over the last 3 years,
>> we have come a 

Re: [Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

[Ali Hussein]

Andrew

You raise pertinent and important issues. 

The rule of thumb for any public organization is that Transparency trumps (no 
pun intended) everything else. 

If I were asked and was a member of the Board, I'd advocate for FULL disclosure 
on financial and operational matters. How money was spent, how much, what was 
the impact, who received it etc. That in my humble opinion is the best policy. 
Let us err on the side of too much information as opposed to too little 
information.

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113 

Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a 
habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

> On 5 Jun 2017, at 8:42 AM, Andrew Alston  
> wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
>  
> So – I want to open a bit of a discussion about transparency, specifically, 
> financial transparency.
>  
> In order to get this started – let me ask a few questions of all of you –
>  
> While we talk about transparency and how it is required – can we analyze for 
> a moment as to the level of transparency we want.   So, to kick this 
> discussion off, let me start by asking some basic questions that we can use 
> as the starting point for this discussion.
>  
> a.) How much detail should the board and AfriNIC be supplying us as 
> regards how the money we pay towards IP resources is spent.  Is it sufficient 
> to show an aggregated line item that refers to travel expenses for example, 
> or do we want to see some kind of a breakdown on what that money is being 
> spent on (considering that travel makes up 10% of the total revenue)
> b.)How much detail should the board and AfriNIC be supplying us as 
> members as regards other large scale line items – specifically – we spend 
> hundreds of thousands each year on meeting expenses – should we be asking for 
> a breakdown on what those meeting expenses are – or are we happy with the 
> organization spending that kind of money under a single large line item.
> c.) When AfriNIC is giving money to other organizations for sponsorship – 
> what level of transparency and accountability should be required from those 
> organizations.  Is it acceptable that AFRINIC makes a decision to give money 
> to organizations that have no formal incorporation, no audited financial 
> statements and no board of their own, or should AFRINIC be scrutinizing those 
> that they give money to far more closely, and asking for the same level of 
> transparency from those that they give money to that we require from them.
> d.)When AFRINIC is funding organizations such as the ASO/NRO – how much 
> transparency should be supplied back to the members about how that money is 
> being spent and what that funding is actually being used for.
> e.)When AFRINIC is funding board travel to meetings around the world – 
> should board members be able to attend these conferences without ever 
> supplying reports about what was accomplished at said meetings and what the 
> purpose of the expenditure was, or are we prepared to accept that these 
> meetings must be useful without further questions.
>  
> Remember, every cent spent by AfriNIC can have an impact on our fees, and 
> impacts the bottom line of the company.  Over the last 3 years, we have come 
> a long way to stabilizing the company and its financial position, but in 
> order to maintain that, we probably need to discuss openly as a community 
> about the level of transparency we want into those finances and then once we 
> as a community come to consensus, we can request the board supply the 
> transparency we agree is necessary.  But let us have an open and cordial 
> discussion so that we get to the right point.
>  
> Thanks
>  
> Andrew
>  
>  
>  
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