[Community-Discuss] AFRINIC Council of Elders

[Nishal Goburdhan]

On 13 Jul 2016, at 11:30, Marcus K. G. Adomey wrote:

> The delay in considering the appointment of Mr. Ntege to the CoE, 
> whether intentional or not, whether at discretion of board or not, it 
> is showing the dysfunctional characteristic of the board.

i respectfully disagree.  if it’s “at discretion” as opposed to 
“automatic” - which, btw, was a key point in the original message - 
then there is no “dysfunction” as you allude to.

i agree with you that this is probably something that the Board *should* 
have discussed sooner;  but *not* discussing a *discretionary* item is 
hardly dysfunctional.  i run several working groups, that often have 
“optional” items that stay on the agenda for more than a year, 
*because they are optional*, and by their definition, do not get 
precedence over more pressing matters, in the limited time that the 
group meets to discuss matters.

so, call a spade, a spade, eh?


> The consequence of this delay of a year is in bad taste which does not 
> build trust. Moreover, this delay has also generated on this mailing 
> list some unpleasant acrobatic interpretations of the section 16.1 of 
> the bylaw, which understanding is obvious.

again, you imply one thing, when the truth is another.  there is rarely 
“obvious” understanding, and this discussion should have proven 
that.
* there is that, which the text (bylaws) says, and needs to be read 
literally
* there is clearly disagreement on what this written text means to some
* there is scope for improvement of the text

or, perhaps not?  perhaps it’s literal enough to mean, exactly what it 
says?  as a step moving forward, it would be useful, if, those that 
think that this text needs to be changed, submit new text  (like some of 
the really good proposals that this list has already seen!).


> Let us wait for the outcome of the board meeting

yes indeed, and let us respect, and support the outcome of this 
decision.

meanwhile, the challenge for new (better) text, still stands.

—n.