[Community-Discuss] Announcement of Final Candidate Slate for AFRINIC Board Elections

Wed May 11 08:50:27 UTC 2022

My name is Dewole Ajao - I currently hold the position of Director at
Access and Content Ltd - an ISP and AFRINIC resource member. I served as
co-chair of the AFRINIC Policy Development Working Group for a full term of
3 years and I am also the Head of External Relations at the Nigerian
Network Operators Group (ngNOG) where I help to build technical capacity
and foster an ecosystem where Internet Service Providers, mobile network
operators, content distribution networks, academia network operators,
government regulators, civil society, and others openly collaborate towards
growth of the Internet. I have worked within the African Internet space for
several years and have tried to contribute to AFRINIC's growth by
participating both online and in person since 2007.

I would like to point out that I am the proposed candidate referred to in
Ms Rashida's email yesterday.

I would also like to point out that contrary to text of the call on March
8, 2022 for NOMCOM volunteers at
https://www.afrinic.net/20220308-call-for-volunteers-on-the-nomination-committee-nomcom
1. This NOMCOM is not neutral
2. This NOMCOM has direct or indirect interests in the results of the
elections being held

And as such this NOMCOM (for reasons best known to them) is attempting to
manipulate the elections by presenting a candidate slate that limits the
choices available to members.

While the Board indicated what they would like to see in the NOMCOM, they
neglected to check the warning signs by approving an election process that
clearly stated there will be discrimination in the evaluation of candidates
(possibly because they did not want to be seen as interfering with the
process?).

This brings into question the process through which the NOMCOM was
constituted (since it was given to us by the Board, and a Board member is
indeed part of the NOMCOM). How many people expressed interest in being on
NOMCOM? How were the final three selected and on what basis (given that the
NOMCOM membership criteria is quite loosely defined)?

On reading the NOMCOM election process/guideline announcement, as a
resource member, I pointed this out (see
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2022-April/005163.html
) but rather than address the issue, the NOMCOM responded that they have
the power and they have done it and since the board has approved it, my
call for caution did not matter. The Board also chose not to address the
issue and here we are today with a doctored candidate slate.

In the past, I had maintained some degree of trust that the AFRINIC
leadership will to the best of its ability and within whatever constraints
it finds itself, act in the members' best interest. It appears now that
this trust may have been misplaced.

*As a resource member, my requests for clarity at this time are simple:*
1. That the parties responsible for the selection of NOMCOM 2022 provide
information on how this NOMCOM was selected. How many applications were
received? How did we end up with these NOMCOM members?

2. That the Board chair explain how NOMCOM 2022 was allowed to proceed
after presenting a process/guidelines that are in clear violation of the
principles the Board itself had defined in the call for NOMCOM volunteers

3. That the NOMCOM 2022 share how they arrived at the proposed candidate
slate. How many nominations were received for each seat? On what grounds
were the rejected ones rejected? Statistics can be shared without revealing
personal data (so that should not be an excuse). In my specific case, I
hereby waive all rights to confidentiality regarding my nomination.

4. I also request in my capacity as a resource member that the published
candidate slate be set aside until we have an unbiased election process.

I stood down on my initial request that the election process be re-examined
with the hope that NOMCOM would take the warning and be reasonable.
Clearly, that has now been tested and NOMCOM chose otherwise. This time, we
must fix this issue if indeed we care about this system.

Let me be perfectly clear that I am not desperate to receive the bashing
that comes with being an AFRINIC director these days; but I am genuinely
interested in volunteering my time and skills for improved governance of
the African RIR. That improved governance can only start with everyone
being responsible with whatever little task they volunteer or are paid to
do. It also comes with more members paying attention to what goes on
(rather than just paying their membership fees and looking away). When we
find things that need improvement in our processes and bylaws, we should
act to repair them immediately. We will find many things to be fixed
because the "rules" were created under an assumption that we all would be
working with a common goal and not personal interests.

I encourage other resource members and community members to spare some of
their valuable time to help address some of these issues. The silence of
the membership is what gives room for impunity.

Regards,
Dewole Ajao.

On Tue, May 10, 2022 at 6:41 PM rashida via Community-Discuss <
community-discuss at afrinic.net> wrote:

>
> Thank you very much for the published candidates slate, Noah Maina (Nomcom
> Chair), Ali Hadji Mmadi (Member), Bill Sangiwa(Member), and Dr Abdalla
> Omari (Board representative). I believe you must have worked hard on this
> selection.
>
> As a resource member in good standing, my organization nominated and got a
> seconder (also in good standing) for a proposed candidate. We however do
> not see the name on the published candidate slate despite this person being
> well qualified to be a valuable director on the board of Afrinic if given a
> chance.
>
> According to section 12.14 of the bylaws of Afrinic, "Each Member may
> nominate one individual who shall be eligible to be elected as a
> Director..."
>
> Because we are very much aware that the individual we nominated also meets
> the requirements of Section 13.12 of the bylaws of Afrinic in which the
> Nomcom is empowered to seek "additional conditions for the eligibility of
> candidates to the position of Board Directors", we hereby request that
> Nomcom  provide details about how this individual was found ineligible or
> if it is a publishing error, that the error be corrected *before the public
> comments period is allowed to commence*
>
> I trust that this will get the urgent attention it deserves as a matter
> critical to this organization and the upcoming members' meeting.
>
> Sincerely,
> Ms Rashida Umar
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: AFRINIC Communication <comms at afrinic.net>
> Date: 10/05/2022 4:28 pm (GMT+01:00)
> To: General Discussions of AFRINIC <community-discuss at afrinic.net>
> Subject: [Community-Discuss] Announcement of Final Candidate Slate for
> AFRINIC Board Elections
>
> Dear Members and Community,
>
> NOMCOM 2022 is pleased to announce the following final candidates slate
> for each respective seat on the AFRINIC Board:
>
> Candidates Full Names for the Region: Northern Africa | Seat 1
>
> 1. Prof. Habib Youssef  - CV available at
> https://afrinic.net/habib-youssef
>
> Candidates Full Names for the Region: Western Africa | Seat 2
>
> 2. Mr. Amin A. Dayekh - CV available at
> https://afrinic.net/mr-amin-dayekh
>
> 3. Dr. Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun - CV available at
> https://afrinic.net/emmanuel-adewale
>
> Candidates Full Names for the Region: Independent | Seat 7
>
> 4. Mrs Clara Mramba - CV available at https://afrinic.net/clara-mramba
>
> 5. Mrs Grace Githaiga - CV available at https://afrinic.net/grace-githaiga
>
> Full candidates information has been published at
> https://afrinic.net/participate/election-process/bod-candidates-slate-2022x
>
>
> The community and members are hereby invited to view candidates details
> and express any comments about the suitability of the candidates for the
> board position using the comment section at the URL above.
>
> This time the election will be conducted both in-person on the AGMM date
> and electronically; electronic voting will start on 19th May 2022.
>
> Electronic voting will be available on MyAFRINIC Portal
> https://my.afrinic.net
>
> Information about electronic voting is available at:
> https://afrinic.net/election-process
>
> Please read the AFRINIC Privacy Policy at https://www.afrinic.net/privacy
>
> For any queries or clarification, please contact the nominations committee
> by email at nomcom2022[at]afrinic.net
>
> AFRINIC NOMCOM 2022
>
> ………………………………………………………………
>
> Chers membres et communauté,
>
> NOMCOM 2022 a le plaisir d'annoncer la liste finale des candidats suivants
> pour chaque siège respectif au conseil d'administration d'AFRINIC :
>
> Noms complets des candidats pour la région : Afrique du Nord | Siège 1
>
> 1. Prof. Habib Youssef - CV disponible sur
> https://afrinic.net/habib-youssef
>
> Candidats Noms complets pour la région : Afrique de l'Ouest | Siège 2
>
> 2. M. Amin A. Dayekh - CV disponible sur
> https://afrinic.net/mr-amin-dayekh
>
> 3. Dr. Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun - CV disponible sur
> https://afrinic.net/emmanuel-adewale
>
> Noms complets des candidats pour la région : Indépendant | Siège 7
>
> 4. Mme Clara Mramba - CV disponible sur https://afrinic.net/clara-mramba
>
> 5. Mme Grace Githaiga - CV disponible sur
> https://afrinic.net/grace-githaiga
>
> Les informations complètes sur les candidats ont été publiées sur
> https://afrinic.net/participate/election-process/bod-candidates-slate-2022x
>
>
> La communauté et les membres sont invités à consulter les détails des
> candidats et à exprimer tout commentaire sur la convenance des candidats au
> poste de membre du conseil d'administration en utilisant la section
> commentaire à l'URL ci-dessus.
>
> Cette fois, l'élection se déroulera à la fois en personne à la date de
> l'AGMM et par voie électronique ; le vote électronique commencera le 19 mai
> 2022.
>
> Le vote électronique sera disponible sur le portail MyAFRINIC
> https://my.afrinic.net.
>
> Des informations sur le vote électronique sont disponibles sur :
> https://afrinic.net/election-process
>
> Veuillez lire la politique de confidentialité d'AFRINIC à l'adresse
> https://www.afrinic.net/privacy.
>
> Pour toute question ou clarification, veuillez contacter le comité des
> nominations par email à nomcom2022[at]afrinic.net
>
> AFRINIC NOMCOM 2022
>
> …………………………………………………………………………
>
> أعزائي الأعضاء والمجتمع ،
>
> يسر NOMCOM 2022 أن تعلن عن قائمة المرشحين النهائية التالية لكل مقعد على
> حدة في مجلس إدارة AFRINIC:
>
> الأسماء الكاملة للمرشحين للمنطقة: شمال إفريقيا | المقعد 1
>
> 1. الأستاذ حبيب يوسف - السيرة الذاتية متوفرة على
> https://afrinic.net/habib-youssef
>
> الأسماء الكاملة للمرشحين للمنطقة: غرب إفريقيا | المقعد 2
>
> 2. السيد أمين أ.دايك - السيرة الذاتية متوفرة على
> https://afrinic.net/mr-amin-dayekh
>
> 3. د.إيمانويل أديوال أديوكون - السيرة الذاتية متاحة على
> https://afrinic.net/emmanuel-adewale
>
> الأسماء الكاملة للمرشحين للمنطقة: مستقل | مقعد 7
>
> 4. السيدة كلارا مرامبا - السيرة الذاتية متوفرة على
> https://afrinic.net/clara-mramba
>
> 5. السيدة Grace Githaiga - السيرة الذاتية متاحة على
> https://afrinic.net/grace-githaiga
>
> تم نشر معلومات المرشحين الكاملة على
> https://afrinic.net/participate/election-process/bod-candidates-slate-2022x
>
> تتم دعوة المجتمع والأعضاء لعرض تفاصيل المرشحين والتعبير عن أي تعليقات حول
> مدى ملاءمة المرشحين لمنصب مجلس الإدارة باستخدام قسم التعليقات في
> عنوان URL أعلاه.
>
> هذه المرة ستجرى الانتخابات شخصيًا في تاريخ AGMM وإلكترونيًا ؛ سيبدأ
> التصويت الإلكتروني في 19 مايو 2022.
>
> سيكون التصويت الإلكتروني متاحًا على بوابة MyAFRINIC https://my.afrinic.net
>
> تتوفر معلومات حول التصويت الإلكتروني على:
> https://afrinic.net/election-process
>
> يرجى قراءة سياسة الخصوصية AFRINIC على https://www.afrinic.net/privacy
>
> لأية استفسارات أو توضيحات ، يرجى الاتصال بلجنة الترشيحات عبر البريد
> الإلكتروني على nomcom2022 [at] afrinic.net
>
> أفرينك نومكوم 2022
>
> ……………………………………………………………………….
>
> Caros Membros e Comunidade,
>
> NOMCOM 2022 tem o prazer de anunciar os seguintes candidatos finais para
> cada lugar respectivo no Conselho AFRINIC:
>
> Nomes completos dos candidatos para a Região: África do Norte | Lugar 1
>
> 1. Prof. Habib Youssef - CV disponível em
> https://afrinic.net/habib-youssef
>
> Candidatos Nomes Completos para a Região: África Ocidental | Lugar 2
>
> 2. Sr. Amin A. Dayekh - CV disponível em
> https://afrinic.net/mr-amin-dayekh
>
> 3. Dr. Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun - CV disponível em
> https://afrinic.net/emmanuel-adewale
>
> Candidatos Nomes Completos para a Região: Independente | Lugar 7
>
> 4. Sra. Clara Mramba - CV disponível em https://afrinic.net/clara-mramba
>
> 5. Sra. Grace Githaiga - CV disponível em
> https://afrinic.net/grace-githaiga
>
> Informação completa sobre os candidatos foi publicada em
> https://afrinic.net/participate/election-process/bod-candidates-slate-2022x
>
>
> A comunidade e os membros são convidados a ver os detalhes dos candidatos
> e a expressar quaisquer comentários sobre a aptidão dos candidatos para o
> cargo de direcção utilizando a secção de comentários no URL acima.
>
> Desta vez, a eleição será realizada pessoalmente na data da AGMM e
> electronicamente; a votação electrónica terá início a 19 de Maio de 2022.
>
> A votação electrónica estará disponível no Portal MyAFRINIC
> https://my.afrinic.net
>
> A informação sobre votação electrónica está disponível em:
> https://afrinic.net/election-process
>
> Por favor leia a Política de Privacidade AFRINIC em
> https://www.afrinic.net/privacy
>
> Para qualquer questão ou esclarecimento, por favor contacte o comité de
> nomeações por e-mail para nomcom2022[at]afrinic.net
>
> AFRINIC NOMCOM 2022
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community-Discuss mailing list
> Community-Discuss at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
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