[Community-Discuss] A Response to RFG on Matters AFRINIC

[Noah]

Hi Ronald,

Allow me to respond to your email which I found very touching and extremely
useful.

On Tue, 3 Aug 2021, 17:44 Ronald F. Guilmette, <rfg at tristatelogic.com>
wrote:


> In message

> <PA4PR09MB47516ED2882A0ADF63101E2896F09 at PA4PR09MB4751.eurprd09.prod.

> outlook.com>, AMADU YUSIF <yamadu at ug.edu.gh> wrote:

>

> >Well, done REN. This is what we expect from likeminded community in

> support

> >of AFRINIC no matter what the situation is. We are Africans and must

> protect

> >what is ours not transferring your resources to different region/Network.

> >We must fight together and together we shall win.

>

> I'm sorry to say it, but I don't believe that Africans know how to fight

> or win this battle.

>


To win a battle you must be informed. Ignorance is at play to a greater
extent.

FWIW, there are those who have made the effort to shade light to the
current predicament which is fundamentally undermining the collaborative
Internet registry system.



> You are not really looking at what the other side is doing or how it is

> doing it, so you are not learning from their example.

>


What I found interesting with Lu Heng is the fact that he effectively went
on the record on mybroadband in South Africa to make some cheap claims like
helping schools in Africa....  #DeadAid (Read the book by Zambian
Author Dr.Dambisa Moyo) and you will understand Lu Heng.

Lu Heng on mybroadband.co.za   “*Moreover, we do realize the African
Internet is underdeveloped, and we are doing everything we can to help
Africa. *

Ofcourse the statement above from Lu Heng is bullshit. HELP AFRICA. Can you
imagine this guy?

Lu Heng on mybroadband.co.za  *Through our [Larus] foundation and other
efforts, we have been working for years to widen participation in the
policy process, especially by students and those just beginning their
careers, *

The above statement from Lu is misleading. The fact of the matter is that
the Larus echo-chamber who are mostly stooges conscripted to advance Lu
Hengs agenda, have done nothing more than disrupt the AFRINIC PDP. For
over  3 years, the Larus echo-chamber participating in the AFRINIC PDWG has
made a series of wild claims and invalid objections on a wide range of
draft policy proposals.

If a proposal is not beneficial, they appeal it, if it is beneficial like
the *self-serving resource transfer proposal*, they demand the AFRINIC
board to ratify it even when the said draft proposal is under dispute by
participants of the policy development working group.

Lu Heng on mybroadband.co.za * to donate to African schools that need
computers, and through other educational outreach**.*”

The above fake news is what I would refer to as the *#Lu Heng Africa Savior
Industrial Complex. *

We have seen this tactic used in AFRICA by players like Lu Heng in other
aspects that are not Internet Related.



>

> On the other side, they are doing a professional job of public relations

> where in counts... in the press in Mauritius, where the judges are sitting.

> Have any of those judges or anyone in the entire government of Mauitius

> read a single word about these matters, other than Owen DeLong's point

> of view?  No, apparently not.

>



You are on point Ronald. ....Attention S.O, I hope umesikia.


If you would concentrate your efforts where it matters, in the

> Mauritian press



Yes and to do so by AFRINIC telling the truth.

https://www.lexpress.mu/
<https://www.lexpress.mu/article/397372/litige-entre-afrinic-et-cloud-iinnovation-reseau-internet-risque-detre-compromis>

*Lu Heng  on the *https://www.lexpress.mu/
<https://www.lexpress.mu/article/397372/litige-entre-afrinic-et-cloud-iinnovation-reseau-internet-risque-detre-compromis>*
“We realize that the African internet is still underdeveloped. We are doing
our utmost to help the continent.* ”

So Lu is claiming that the African Internet is underdeveloped?  He then
claims he is helping the continent. I find this dude's choice of words in
the press wanting.

This is the same chap whose company LARUS Ltd is leasing IPv4 addresses
outside AFRICA. His new stooge Owen then goes around claiming that they are
addressing hosts for millions of customers more than the population of East
Africa, in China and elsewhere.

How much does Lu Hengs activities contribute in terms of Taxes across
Africa?  Who are his employees on this continent?  Who are his customers in
Africa? I mean if you are going to sit on 6 million IPv4 addresses which is
more IPv4 space than majority of typical Telecom companies across Africa
can hold, then sure we need to see this "*help the continent*" Bullshit
from Lu and his fake philosophy of One World, One Internet, Embracing
Digital Globalisation.

One thing I know Lu Heng has done is to throw dinner parties during the
African Internet Summit meeting. The other thing Lu Heng has done in the
past is to hand out cheap refurb laptops during AFRINIC social events in
the form of gifts. I can not reconcile the 6 million IPv4 address space
with cheap laptops he claims to give schools. #scam.

Lu Heng for years played this community for jokes. I mean no AFRINIC
Resource Member (with Real Network In Africa) has pulled stunts of giving
out cheap gifts during AFRINIC meetings like Lu Heng and his Larus
Foundation. Ofcourse in AFRICA like anywhere else, gift handouts can come
in handy in light of the poverty mentality and it's a subtle way of buying
people using tangible goods. But that practise also  goes to show you what
Lu thinks about this continent and the people. Some Impoverished region
that needs Lu Heng #DeadAid. Nonsense of the highest order.

If you (Lu Heng) are going to interfere in the lives of others (AFRICA), a
little due diligence is a minimum requirement. ....... To paraphrase Teju
Cole

Those resource members who have built real networks and infrastructure in
this continent, from Telecommunication Companies, ISP's, Hosting Providers,
Universities, Schools, Banks, Government Institutions, IXP's are known.

Who knows Cloud Innovation Ltd, an LIR with over 6 million IPv4 addresses
without an ASN and IPv6 allocation?


and with the Mauritian government, then you might have

> some hope of keeping your own Regional Internet Registry in African,

>


The other option is to also have AFRINIC run from a different jurisdiction
where dishonest folk who take advantage of Seychelles as jurisdiction for
their offshore legal entities while headquartered in HongKong can not game
the system.

but since no one is doing that, there is no hope of AFRINIC surviving,

> and thus, this experiment is African Internet sovereignty will end, and

> once you lose it, you'll never get it back.  Ever.  Because no one will

> ever again trust the African Internet community to manage its own affairs

> without assistance from outside.



I couldn't agree more with Ronald. He is right and has been right on a wide
range of issues.

I often like to tell the story of the BodaBoda/TukTuk industry. Today in
Africa, a household is able to buy home utensils off a platform like
Instagram through an ecommerce page or any ecommerce platform like Jumia .
The purchase is then transacted between the merchant and the buyer through
Mobile Money. The delivery of the purchased Items from the merchant to the
buyer is done by the BodaBoda/TukTuk industry which employs today, Millions
of African Youth today. Some of those riders are university graduates who
have failed to get a whitecolar jobs. They use platforms like
https://safeboda.com/ug/  to lead a life.

We Network Engineers enable all this by making sure that we put to use the
IPv4 addresses that AFRINIC is responsible for managing and has allocated
to LIR based on need, to make sure that we enable the Internet in our
region. We expand the Internet Infrastructure so that all those who it
affects can improve their lives from the public end-users, to Governments,
Education Institutions, NREN's, Healthy Institutions etc in Africa.

We have seen our Governments now go online with e-Government services.
Those services depend on the IPv4 addresses managed by AFRINIC as a
registry. Today our people are able to pay utility bills online directly to
the governments and the Tax man is able to collect Tax online. Digital
payments are enabling governments to fight corruption as public funds today
are now easily tracked through each mobile transaction. The cashless
digital economy is enabling transparency and accountability and it has
reduced the chances of mismanagement of public funds. This would not have
been possible without the Internet and the Internet is those IPv4
integers managed by AFRINIC.

A lot of our youth in Africa today are able to leverage on the age of
information to access information that 50 years ago would not be possible
and this is all thanks to the Internet. Subsistence farmers are able to
stay in the rural villages across Africa and leverage FinTech and Mobile
Money to sell their produce and earn an Income and lead a decent life. The
farmers get paid for their labor through Mobile Money today and they are
able to avoid the corrupt middle men who ripped them off their hard earned
labor. We the Internet people are making this possible using the IPv4
address.

When you sleep at night, be proud of the work of your hand every time you
configure a router or switch or online a server across this continent which
you assign the Interfaces with an IPv4 address so that they can carry
Internet traffic across Africa to enable communication.

Cheers,
Noah

PS: *Everyone is your enemy, everyone is your friend* - *Little Finger
#FictionCharacter  GoT.... Remain Ignorant and get played.*

#StandWithAFRINIC
#Accountability.
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