[Community-Discuss] Questions about transparency

Thu Jul 13 09:18:47 UTC 2017

Hi all

Without addressing anyone in particular I honestly and humbly wish we can
exercise some decorum, good will and a sense of community. There's is too
much personalization and hurling of insults and insinuations on this list.

May I submit that we can disagree, discourse and add value to each other in
the interest of the community without slipping into insults and abuses?

Let's engage, agree, disagree, agree to disagree while at the same time
maintaining some decorum?

I apologise if I'm coming across as preachy but this is important.

Regards

*Ali Hussein*

*Principal*

*Hussein & Associates*

Tel: +254 713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

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

13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing,

Chiromo Road, Westlands,

Nairobi, Kenya.

Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely
mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the
organizations that I work with.

On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 8:08 AM, Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com> wrote:

> I think a more accurate description of the events is that certain portions
> of the community with no sense of decorum or fairness spoke very loudly and
> refused to give up the floor even after being declared out of order
> repeatedly by the chair of the meeting.
>
> However, I am certain you are unlikely to share my perspective as you are
> almost certainly allied with this group of ill-behaved malcontents.
>
> Owen
>
> On Jun 5, 2017, at 19:13 , Badru Ntege <badru.ntege at nftconsult.com> wrote:
>
> 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 <ali at hussein.me.ke> 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 <mje at posix.co.za> 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 <Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com>
> 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
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community-Discuss mailing list
> Community-Discuss at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community-Discuss mailing listCommunity-Discuss at afrinic.nethttps://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
>
> --
> Mark James ELKINS  -  Posix Systems - (South) Africamje at posix.co.za       Tel: +27.128070590  Cell: +27.826010496
> For fast, reliable, low cost Internet in ZA: https://ftth.posix.co.za
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community-Discuss mailing list
> Community-Discuss at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community-Discuss mailing list
> Community-Discuss at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community-Discuss mailing list
> Community-Discuss at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/attachments/20170713/cf1dd48b/attachment.html>