[Community-Discuss] Ongoing thefts of AFRINIC Legacy Resources -- Ongoing collusion?

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

In message <1598012148.484729978 at apps.rackspace.com>, 
"Jean-Robert Hountomey" <hrobert at africacert.org> wrote:


>Recent emails remind us of the hummingbird's story and "The Man in the Arena"

>from President Roosevelt. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who

>points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have

>done them better..."


Mr. Hountomey,

I am so glad that you brought this up, but you seem to be apologizing to
the wrong party.

You see, in this instance, *I* am the man in the arena.

Who did all of the hard work, for months on end, to expose the corruption
that was embedded deep within AFRINIC?  Who collected and then laid out
all of the facts to prove the case against Mr. Ernest Byaruhanga, even
beyond a reasonable doubt?  Who described, in detail, exactly what was
stolen, and how, and by whom, even though all of this corruption and
self-dealing had been going on for literally YEARS, right under the noses
of the AFRINIC staff and the Board?  And who now has to put up with all
of the backbiting and dismissal and denegration of his work by those who
have only sat around this whole time with their hands in their pockets?

That would be me.


>We also understand that you need the less, a toxic climate, unnecessary

>pressure, opinions that lead nowhere but into a slippery path. Haste leads to

>errors, and one should not rush into action to appear decisive. We get that a

>party providing excessive details publicly on a court case to people who are

>not even mandated may do so at his peril.


This is quite certainly one of the most ridiculous paragraphs I have ever
read in my entire 37 years on the Internet.

Firsly, the only "toxcicity" here is the way any dissent from the "party
line" of the official spokespeople is being treated like treason.  This
may be appropriate in Belarus, or in Mr. Trump's America, but I had
hoped for some more enlightened attitudes in Africa.

Second, it seems that asking for answers, when the community has had
-zero- answers about any of these matters for a full eight and a half
months consitutes "unnecessary pressure".  If so, then I plead guilty,
and I can only hope that others will join me in NOT wanting to wait
for another year, or two, or five before we get some straight answers.

As regards to "haste" leading to errors... You have GOT to be kidding!!  As
I have already said, the Lord created the Heaven and the Earth in seven
days, but AFRINIC apparently can't seem to sort out the simple problem
of un-doing the obviously corrupt changes in its own data base, even
given eight and a half months!!

If this is what passes for "haste" in the African context, then I have
to say that I am damn well surprised to know that anybody on your
continent even manages to make it all the way in to work in the morning.

And if expecting the un-doing of blatantly corrupt garbage in the AFRINIC
WHOIS data base in something less than geological time frames implies a
"rush to action" then I frankly have to wonder why there is any Internet
connectivity in Africa AT ALL.  Clearly someone "rushed to action" and
actually did something useful to create this at some point, so maybe
"rushing to action" is actually desirable from time to time.  (But of
course, there are always going to be bureaucrats in any society who
NEVER "rush to action" and who actually do absolutely nothing, but who
expect to be fed anyway.)

As regards to sharing "excessive details publicly on a court case", as
I have already pointed out, the dues-paying MEMBERS of the member-based
oganization called AFRINIC are being sued, and neither the Board nor
the CEO nor any other party has the right to keep the lawsuit filing
in this case secret from these dues-paying members WHO ARE EACH AND
SEVERALLY PARTIES TO THE LAWSUIT.

In short, the CEO is *unilaterally* violating both the law and common
practice in all civilized countries.  (But perhaps the term "civilized
country" doesn't include Mauritius, so that he can get away with this
kind of crooked skulduggery.)

But even if we set aside the fact that the CEO is acting illegally by
trying to hide the lawsuit from the members, we still have to ask the
question:  Why all of the unnecessary secrecy?  What is the CEO afraid
of?  What are YOU afraid of, Mr. Hountomey?  You are behaving just like
our dear Mr. Trump, who is still refusing to release his tax returns.
Why would he do that unless there was something incriminating against
him personally in those documents?

So who would be harmed if copies of Mr. Cohen's lawsuit were given to
the dues-paying members?  You still have not answered that.  What is
the deep dark secret that the CEO doesn't want the dues-paying members
to know?

Are you both just protecting the reputation of some "illustrious man"
from the AFRINIC region?

The truth will come out in the end.  It always does.  And thus, I encourage
you to begin thinking about YOUR OWN reputation.  You can either do the
right thing, get the facts out on the table, or else in the end, you will
seen to have been just another pawn of powerful men and their corrupt
and self-serving schemes.


Regards,
rfg