[Community-Discuss] AFRINIC Council of Elders

[Nishal Goburdhan]

On 12 Jul 2016, at 13:26, Omo Oaiya wrote:

> Let's get off this micromanagement train.

yes indeed, let’s!


> "There shall be a Council of Elders appointed by the Board comprising 
> a
> maximum of six (6) former chairpersons of AFRINIC who have left the 
> Board.
> Their advisory role is commensurate with their experience leading the
> organisation as former Chairs."

ok, so, let’s break it down, shall we?

“there shall be a council”
—> and indeed, there is one.

“..appointed by the board..”
—> it’s clear to me, that the decision to appoint (or not) is left 
to the board, since, those are the words, verbatim, from the bylaws.

“..comprising a maximum of six former chairpersons..“
—> so, no more than six.

t’mam?

what’s unclear is probably the following:
* there is an _implied assumption_ (the original message in this thread) 
that the appointment is automatic.  there is no text to support that, so 
i would call that assumption incorrect.  (should there be text to this 
effect is a different question)
* there is an _implied assumption_ that *every* ex-chair should be on 
the CoE.  there is no text to support that either.
* there is an _implied assumption_ that there is a term limit (in number 
of years).  it’s true that there is one term limit, but there is no


> It goes further in 16.2 to describe how this is managed.
> Shall is authoritative.

and indeed there is a committee;  there’s no debate over that.
but “shall” does not imply “automatic”, as you’re suggesting 
below.


> Any other interpretation is disingenuous.

really omo?   that’s hardly sporting of you.  because an 
interpretation does not match your own, does *not* make that 
interpretation incorrect.
i’m simply giving you (this public list) my interpretation.  which, to 
me, seems correct from *my* reading of the text.


> In 16.3, the bylaws restricts the tenure of members to one term and 
> forbids
> re-appointment.  If it were not automatic, how is the board expected 
> to
> comply?

i read this as (and *my* mostly monosyllabical explanation follows)
* there is a council
* it can have up to six ex-chairs
* the council members are appointed by the board
* when it gets to six, the first to join the council has to drop off to 
keep this at six

i count a current council of 4.  which means, to me, that the bylaws are 
respected.
i don’t know why badru didn’t make the council.  (i might even like 
to, but that’s besides the point).
but the decision to appoint or not, seems squarely to be the prerogative 
of the board.  and not an automatic process.

—n.