[Community-Discuss] Raising concerns

[Andrew Alston]

Alan,

Sorry to say this - but - these questions - need to be asked and answered in front of the community - this community has a right to the answers.

Since you asked me for succinct questions though - I will ask them straight

a.) What is the board doing about the fact that the organisation cannot - by the bylaws - elect directors - and without elected directors cannot get quorum to host another AGMM - which is a statutory requirement under Mauritian law
b.) Why is the average time taken to process an application in man hours sitting at 75 man hours per application through to the beginning of June this year
c.) Why are the travel costs for the organisation now sitting at the highest levels since 2014 - a 26% rise against a 10.7% rise in revenue
d.) Why did AFRINIC see the need to fly a total of 45 staff members to two member meetings - just 3 shy of the entire staff compliment - what is the benefit for the members of this - since the members are paying for it
e.) Why does the organisation refuse to bind itself to compliance with the Mauritian code of corporate governance
f.) What is the status update of the competitions tribunal enquiry
g.) Why is the IT department inside AFRINIC larger than the member services department that is meant to serve the core interests of AFRINIC - and based on average salaries is costing the membership base close to half a million dollars a year - and I point out - is larger than the IT team in a company that has 250 staff that I know of.
h.) Why did AFRINIC spent 40% of its HR budget in the last quarter of 2017
i.) When will we be getting a response to the outcome of the investigation promised to myself and the members of the NAP list as regards a particular sale of IP space

I can keep going - but I think that is sufficient for now.  

Alan - if asking questions is attacking people - then there is a problem - because if questions are asked by the members and there are no problems with the answers - there is nothing to feel attacked about.  If however - you are saying that members must ask their  questions in the dark and out of sight of this community - you are again asking me to stay away from the precepts of transparency - and I cannot - and will not - do that.

A fundamental principle of a non-profit organisation is accountability to the members who fund the organisation - and in a truly transparent organisation where there is nothing going wrong - the questions I have been asking - over and over and over again - which remain unanswered - would not be embarrassing - there would be simple answers.  If there was something wrong, it would be a case of, we're messing this up, and we're fixing it - done and dusted and the questions go away. However, in an organisation that has consistently refused to engage and answer the questions - and in many cases has adopted the principles of "whataboutism"  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism), which I must admit is a very effective tactic that has been well demonstrated by the likes of Donald Trump - then these constant questions become a problem and we see responses like the one below.

The questions will continue - if not on the community list - then on the member list - if not on the members list - on other forums - I do not mind which - but - until AFRINIC is prepared to be the transparent organisation it claims to be - I will continue to ask the public questions and stand by every single one of them.

Andrew


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Barrett [mailto:alan.barrett at afrinic.net] 
Sent: 22 June 2018 11:28
To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com>
Cc: community-discuss at afrinic.net
Subject: Raising concerns

Dear Andrew,

You may have some legitimate questions or concerns, but the way you are raising them is extremely destructive to staff morale.  Staff watch this mailing list and see the organisation being attacked, or their team being attacked.  Also, I can’t reasonably extract questions from the deluge of many email messages per day.

Please use a more appropriate channel for raising concerns.  Here are some options:

* When a ticket is closed, the person who opened the ticket is sent a link to a satisfaction survey.

* When you are dissatisfied with service, you can send a message to <complaints at afrinic.net>.

* If you have questions or concerns that you would like the CEO to deal with, please send them to <ceo at afrinic.net>.

* If you have questions or concerns that you would like the Board to deal with, please send them to <board at afrinic.net>

Alan Barrett
CEO, AFRINIC