[Community-Discuss] [members-discuss] AFRINIC Board Statement, 5th June 2016

Thu Jun 9 09:36:00 UTC 2016

Hi All

Over the last year or so these email threads have started degenerating into attacks on people, attacks on companies and now things have degenerated so far as to having racist accusations. I must say, personally, I am appalled by this as it seems like the mission or intention of the Board has been totally lost.

I for one am very disappointed that Mike Silber has withdrawn his nomination, a person with greater insight, integrity and knowledge is hard to come by and ironically all these great traits seem to be missing at the moment.

I believe that the CEO and the Board of any company is supposed to lead by EXAMPLE, to show the direction of the company and to lead its employees. How can the full time employees of AfriNic actually want to work for AfriNic when there is such dissention and fighting from the Board level. Accusations, innuendos and downright stupid comments have been written.

* I personally don’t care from which countries in Africa the Board is comprised of and if there are slightly more members from certain regions than others. 
* I don’t care what race or sex these members

* I do care that members do the job that they have been appointed to do.
* I do care that the Board shows leadership and guidance.
* I do care that the Board behaves in an ethical and appropriate manner.
* I do care that the BOARD take responsibility for what they do and are held responsible for their actions, or lack thereof.

In my mind it's quite simple:
* If you don’t have anything positive to say on this thread, DON’T say anything.
* If you cannot contribute to the vision of AfriNic, then rather maintain your silence. 
* If you are not going to act ‘without favour’ and in the best interests of AfriNic, then please withdraw from the Board.
* If you cannot act in the best interests of AfriNic and not for personal gain of any form, then again, please withdraw your Board membership.

With all that has happened over the last 2 years with AfriNic and the Board, what we need right now are leaders that will stand out, lead by example, show direction and take responsibility for their actions and the actions and / or lack thereof of AfriNic too. 

What we need right now is the community to hold the new leadership to task, especially should they fail to fulfil their mandate and what they have been appointed to do.

To the new Board, if you feel you cannot perform or act in this manner and be judged based on your work, then step down now!

Technology and the internet is leading the world, yet we are acting and behaving like a 3rd world country and going nowehere, It is now time for everyone to move past these issues and move forward into what is best for AfriNic and its community. 

Regards,

Wayne Diamond

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-----Original Message-----
From: Saul Stein [mailto:saul at enetworks.co.za] 
Sent: Thursday, June 9, 2016 9:16 AM
To: General Discussions of AFRINIC <community-discuss at afrinic.net>; Sunday Folayan <sfolayan at skannet.com.ng>
Cc: AfriNIC Discuss <members-discuss at afrinic.net>
Subject: Re: [members-discuss] [Community-Discuss] AFRINIC Board Statement, 5th June 2016

Adiel,

I live in South Africa, where were are well aware of racism and racist issues. Sadly, there have been a few instances such as your email lately which have resulted the offenders being fired from their jobs (even when comments were in their personal capacity) and just generally hauled over the coals by the public in general and would not be able to participate in organisations moving forward.

What concerns me about your apology is that you are apologising for sending the email to the list and not for your racist thoughts. If you have an issue about demographics on the board, the minority (by far) are white, only two, the CEO and one community elected member (not white elected or black elected, community elected).  What about focusing our energies on positive things gender equality?

You're entitled to have your own personal concerns about the board, their actions, perceived issues and your stated incorrect facts for which people have been cleared. But to make this a race issue, public list or private thoughts is not acceptable!

Saul

-----Original Message-----
From: Adiel Akplogan (akp.com) [mailto:adiel at akplogan.com]
Sent: 08 June 2016 07:05 PM
To: Sunday Folayan <sfolayan at skannet.com.ng>
Cc: community-discuss at afrinic.net; AfriNic Discuss <members-discuss at afrinic.net>
Subject: Re: [Community-Discuss] [members-discuss] AFRINIC Board Statement, 5th June 2016

Dear all,

For those of you who are wondering, the e-mail mentioned in this statement was a personal e-mail from me. To close the loop here, I think it is in order for me to also share with you the apologies note (below) I have sent to the AFREN mailing list were my original e-mail was accidentally posted. I’m deeply sorry for the trouble that this may have caused.

Thank you.

Adiel Akplogan (Associate member in my personal capacity).

>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>> From: "Adiel Akplogan (akp.com)" <adiel at akplogan.com>
>> Subject: Apologies - [Was: Re: [afren] [rpd] Board Composition]
>> Date: June 5, 2016 at 22:50:15 GMT-4
>> To: AFREN <afren at afnog.org>
>>
>> Dear listers and friends,
>>
>> I’m sorry that my private e-mail below ends up accidentally on this 
>> mailing list. I would like to apologize to my many friends and 
>> colleagues globally who have supported and worked with me over the 
>> past 20+ years and who may have felt targeted by its content. I truly 
>> value your support and friendship irrelevant of your origin and I 
>> hope you will not see in this private message anything malicious. 
>> Contrary to what was reported I did not accused Mike Silber 
>> particularly in my e-mail. He is someone I know well and hold a lot of respect for.
>>
>> Even though I do not deny my frustration, I should have exercised a 
>> bit more control and not allow it to burst publicly.
>>
>> I hope that all of you who really know me and have worked with me 
>> know that there was no ill intention behind that mail.
>>
>> Kind regards.
>>
>> - a.
>>> On May 3, 2016, at 13:16, Adiel Akplogan (akp.com) 
>>> <adiel at akplogan.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Boubakar and all, this has always been serious and the plan has 
>>> started very long ago and has deeper ramifications than just what we 
>>> are seeing here. It is in fact not about a particular company trying 
>>> to take over but a clear racial fight for the white to take over. 
>>> They have always claim that we Black cannot run an organization like 
>>> AFRINIC (too complex for our small bird brain … that was said on my 
>>> face in 2005 by some of the people pulling the strings behind … they 
>>> are far beyond just this guy undercover of “friendship"). Some of us 
>>> have witnessed that fight at the early days of AFRINIC. I have 
>>> leaved through that during my
>>> 10 years as CEO both in Africa and globally. But the reality is that 
>>> our own people let this kind of thing perpetuate … sadly though no 
>>> one else will fight that fight for us.
>>>
>>> This is the same guy that was accused by Board members last year of 
>>> manipulating his own election (by making companies in ZA pay for 
>>> people to come and vote for him), the same guy who said in writing 
>>> that Gaberonne is across the South African border and he plan to 
>>> bring as many South African as Possible to vote for Mike (he said 
>>> that back in October 2015 … Some in this group have seen the 
>>> transcript of such conversation). The same guy who vouch to push me 
>>> out of AFRINIC because I prevented him to run his IPv4 consultancy 
>>> firm for Academia (by being strict on community policy
>>> interpretation) … The same guy is writing to private lists 
>>> campaigning for his friends and making judgement about the community 
>>> capability today …
>>>
>>> But well the same guys will end up telling us that there is nothing 
>>> dramatic about all of this and that it is normal course of democracy 
>>> and we should move on .. and it will be a new start. We are in this 
>>> since several centuries … :-/ when will it stop? I had to step back 
>>> because at some point this was about to touch on my life … when it 
>>> reaches such level and you turn back and you see no one behind you 
>>> (beside the usual suspects… who’s voices are interpreted as
>>> rhetoric) it get very scary. A very sad day for me …
>>>
>>> - a.
>>>
>>>
>>>> This is a _clear_ plan of a single company trying to hijack 
>>>> AfriNIC. <snip> B.
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: Noah <noah at neo.co.tz>
>>>> Date: Tue, May 3, 2016 at 4:25 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [rpd] Board Composition
>>>> To: Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com>
>>>> Cc: rpd List <rpd at afrinic.net>
>>>>
>>>> +1 Delong...
>>>>
>>>> On 3 May 2016 18:50, "Owen DeLong" <owen at delong.com> wrote:
>>>> It has come to my attention that Mike Silber is running for the 
>>>> independent seat that is opening on the AfriNIC board in the next 
>>>> election.
>>>>
>>>> While I consider Mike to be an excellent candidate and believe he 
>>>> would be a true asset to the AfriNIC board, I have a concern that I 
>>>> must express. This concern has nothing to do with Mike himself, but 
>>>> rather is a concern about organizational structure.
>>>>
>>>> There are only 8 elected members of the AfriNIC board. If Mike 
>>>> Silber is elected, then 25% of the elected board seats would be 
>>>> held by employees of Liquid Telecom. Personally, I do not feel that 
>>>> the board can properly represent the diversity of the AfriNIC 
>>>> community if we allow multiple board seats to be held by 
>>>> representatives from the same organization. While I do not believe 
>>>> that Liquid has any sort of goal of organizational capture or any 
>>>> nefarious intent whatsoever, the reality is that if this is 
>>>> allowed, then it does create the possibility for some other 
>>>> organization to achieve a form of organizational capture.
>>>>
>>>> The board has tremendous authority and responsibility within the 
>>>> AfriNIC organization. As such, I think it is important to consider 
>>>> these generic structural issues seriously, no matter how much we 
>>>> may like and admire the candidates in question.
>>>>
>>>> Again, this is not personal. If it were, I’d be endorsing Mike 
>>>> rather than calling his candidacy into question. However, from a 
>>>> structural perspective, I think it is important that the community 
>>>> at least consider the issue.
>>>>
>>>> Owen
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> RPD mailing list
>>>> RPD at afrinic.net
>>>> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> RPD mailing list
>>>> RPD at afrinic.net
>>>> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> afren mailing list
>>> afren at afnog.org
>>> https://www.afnog.org/mailman/listinfo/afren
>
> On Jun 6, 2016, at 04:14, sfolayan at skannet.com wrote:
>
> Dear Community,
>
> Our attention has been drawn to some email message containing 
> allegations of racism within the AFRINIC Community and subsequent press coverage.
>
> The AFRINIC Board has zero tolerance for racism and this is clearly 
> reflected in the Code of Conduct available at 
> http://afrinic.net/en/community/code-of-conduct
>
> Community members are asked to be mindful of this, in their 
> interactions either in person or online.
>
> Best regards ...
>
> Sunday Folayan
> Chair, AFRINIC Board
>
> _______________________________________________
> Members-Discuss mailing list
> Members-Discuss at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/members-discuss

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