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<div>Thanks Mark</div>
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<div>I like all your points and I think it's a good list of issues to start with. Without wanting to straight jacket the board I also think we need to look into the extent of executional rights of the board and also reporting timelines. </div>
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<div>Your institutional memory is also very accurate on the issues of associate members which we need to make a final decision around as it has been pending for a long time </div>
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<div>Regards <br>
<br>
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<div>“Vision without execution is hallucination.” </div>
<div>― Thomas A. Edison</div>
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On 13 Jun 2016, at 4:43 am, Ali Hussein <<a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke">ali@hussein.me.ke</a>> wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<div>Mark</div>
<div id="AppleMailSignature"><br>
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<div id="AppleMailSignature">Thank you for this and the backgrounder.</div>
<div id="AppleMailSignature"><br>
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<div id="AppleMailSignature">I concur with your thoughts and general direction of your post to improve governance and remove certain ambiguities.</div>
<div id="AppleMailSignature"><br>
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<div id="AppleMailSignature">The one thing I'd add is to specifically and without any ambiguity refer certain matters to the AGM or Special AGM.<br>
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<div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><b>Ali Hussein</b></span></div>
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<div><br>
On 12 Jun 2016, at 4:40 PM, Mark Elkins <<a href="mailto:mje@posix.co.za">mje@posix.co.za</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div><span></span></div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div><span>To get the ball rolling, I have looked over the "Suggestions for</span><br>
<span>Improvements" and have provided my thoughts.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>Some Background: I was involved before AFRINIC was created. To date</span><br>
<span>myself, I believe I first met Nii Quaynor at an I-Net conference in San</span><br>
<span>Jose, 22-25 June 1999, where the issue of an African RIR was discussed.</span><br>
<span>I have since then supported first the idea of an African RIR and since</span><br>
<span>its creation, AFRINIC itself. My name can be found in AFRINIC's founding</span><br>
<span>documents of support. I attended both pre-AFRINIC and some of the early</span><br>
<span>AFRINIC meetings.</span><br>
<span>I have physically attended every AFRINIC meeting since Maputo and had</span><br>
<span>the privilege of being an AFRINIC Board Member for six of those years. I</span><br>
<span>am or have been on a number of other Boards as well and am a member of</span><br>
<span>the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA).</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>1. Lack of clarity on whether or not Associate Members may vote: The</span><br>
<span>Bylaws section 7.2(i) gives Members (presumably including Associate</span><br>
<span>Members) the power to elect Directors; 7.4 states that Associate Members</span><br>
<span>are observers at meetings (which may be interpreted to remove other</span><br>
<span>rights); 7.5 lists a few rights of Associate Members (which may be</span><br>
<span>interpreted to remove other rights); 7.6 gives certain rights to</span><br>
<span>Registered Members and Resource Members (clearly excluding Associate</span><br>
<span>Members) and these rights include the right to vote on certain special</span><br>
<span>and ordinary resolutions; 13.7(i) states that Directors are elected</span><br>
<span>by Resource Members and Registered Members. It is clear that the rights</span><br>
<span>in 7.6 are not granted to Associate Members, but there is a conflict</span><br>
<span>between 7.2(i) and 13.7(i) on whether or not Associate Members may vote</span><br>
<span>in elections for Directors. This conflict must be resolved one way or</span><br>
<span>another.</span><br>
<span>We need to decide whether or not Associate Members should vote, and</span><br>
<span>modify the Bylaws to give effect to that decision.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I was involved in some of the rewriting of the Bylaws although not</span><br>
<span>listed as one of the "Bylaw review committee". We knew that the process</span><br>
<span>would be imperfect and that further changes would be necessary to fix</span><br>
<span>inconsistencies. We also introduced (in an imperfect way) the concept of</span><br>
<span>an Associate Members. This was both to include "Individual Membership"</span><br>
<span>(I believe that Alan Barrett, Randy Bush and I were all Individual</span><br>
<span>Members - and held at that time the right to Vote) and to provide a</span><br>
<span>place for interested organisations such as Regulators who had no need of</span><br>
<span>numbering resources. This is why there is a multiple fee structure for</span><br>
<span>Associated Members. However, there was a fear that this could be used</span><br>
<span>for "Board Capture" in that it would be possible to quickly create a</span><br>
<span>number of Associate members in order to Vote in a particular way.</span><br>
<span>Talking to Adiel, he felt that one way to overcome this problem was to</span><br>
<span>delay an Associate Members right to exercise their Vote for the first year.</span><br>
<span>There are (were) currently only three Associate members and I am one.</span><br>
<span>Out of the large numbers of Resource members - there would be no harm in</span><br>
<span>allowing Associative members to vote. There may otherwise be no value in</span><br>
<span>even having this membership category.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I thus propose that the ByLaws be updated/corrected to reflect that</span><br>
<span>Associate Members can Vote in General Elections, but only after one</span><br>
<span>calendar year of Membership.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>2. Interchangeable use of the terms “Bylaw” or “Bylaws” and</span><br>
<span>“Constitution”: The Mauritian Companies Act refers to a “Constitution”</span><br>
<span>of a company, but AFRINIC sometimes refers to the document as the Bylaws</span><br>
<span>and sometimes as the Constitution. Suggest adding a clause 1.3 to </span><br>
<span>clarify that this document may be referred to by the term “Bylaws” or</span><br>
<span>“Constitution”, and is intended to serve the function of the</span><br>
<span>Constitution in terms of the Companies Act of Mauritius.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I agree with Alan's suggestion that both terms are currently (possibly</span><br>
<span>incorrectly) used interchangeably and a clause could be added to</span><br>
<span>reflect this.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>My thoughts:</span><br>
<span> Constitution ==> "Big" vague stuff</span><br>
<span> Bylaws ==> "Detailed" day-to-day stuff</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>Of course, the opening words in the Bylaw booklet includes:</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>AfriNIC Bylaws</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>1 INTERPRETATION</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>1.1 In this Constitution,</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>-and further below-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>Constitution: This constitution, as amended from time to time in</span><br>
<span>accordance with the Act.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I'm still a bit confused between the two - which seem to be one at AFRINIC.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>3. Clarification that all Registered Members in terms of Bylaws 6.3, and</span><br>
<span>only such Registered Members, must be registered in terms of the</span><br>
<span>Companies Act as members of the company.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I Agree.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>4. Term limits: Consider adding a term limit for elected Board members.</span><br>
<span>We need to decide whether or not to add a limit, and what the limit</span><br>
<span>should be.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>We used to have a Term Limit (of two years). It was removed in the last</span><br>
<span>re-write. This allows the Board to potentially have and keep</span><br>
<span>institutional memory (help not make the same mistakes again). This seems</span><br>
<span>to work just fine in at least the RIPE region - which we in our systems</span><br>
<span>probably resemble the most.</span><br>
<span>Membership can I believe adequately decide when a person should no</span><br>
<span>longer stand by not voting for them any more.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>5. Independence of Directors: Consider adding a limit to the number of</span><br>
<span>Directors who may work for the same organisation. We need to decide</span><br>
<span>whether or not to add a limit, and what the limit should be.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I believe we should add such a limit and I would propose that the limit</span><br>
<span>should be Two (2). Two directors out of nine can not surly be considered</span><br>
<span>as capture.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>6. Regional representation: Consider modifying 13.5 to state that</span><br>
<span>Directors must act in the interests of AFRINIC as a whole, regardless</span><br>
<span>of their regional affiliation.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>Neither should they represent their Company or any other institution or</span><br>
<span>organisation.</span><br>
<span>I agree.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>7. Conflict of interest: Consider adding a requirement for Directors to</span><br>
<span>disclose any conflict of interest, and to recluse themselves from</span><br>
<span>voting on any matter where they have a conflict of interest.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>This is Standard Practise in many Boards, we should follow the same route.</span><br>
<span>I agree.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>8. Separation of powers: Consider adding a requirement that </span><br>
<span>no more than one key position (Board Chair, Vice Chair, Chief Executive</span><br>
<span>Officer, Chief Financial Officer) may be occupied by the same person.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I'm having difficulty seeing where this would occur in the above example</span><br>
<span>but the concept makes for good governance practise.</span><br>
<span>I agree.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>9. Replacement of Directors: The bylaws sections 13.1, 13.8, 13.10, and</span><br>
<span>13.14 give different methods of replacing Directors for different</span><br>
<span>reasons. Consider harmonising this.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I agree.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>10. Board approval of nominations: The Board can approve or disapprove</span><br>
<span>nominations for Board elections in terms of the Bylaws section 12.14(i).</span><br>
<span>Consider requiring a super-majority of two thirds of the Board to</span><br>
<span>disapprove any nomination.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I agree.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>11. Modification to the Bylaws or Constitution: The Bylaws say how the</span><br>
<span>AFRINIC Members may change the Bylaws, but the Companies Act say that</span><br>
<span>the Registered Members can change it. Consider requiring that the</span><br>
<span>Bylaws/Constitution may be changed only after a Special Resolution by</span><br>
<span>all AFRINIC Members in terms of Bylaws 7.6(vi) , so that the Registered</span><br>
<span>Members (the same nine people as the Directors) cannot act without</span><br>
<span>broader approval.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I agree</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span> -oOo-</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>12. Policies introduced by the Board: In terms of the Bylaws section</span><br>
<span>11.4, the Board may adopt policy changes that did not go through the</span><br>
<span>normal PDP. Consider giving the community the right to reject such</span><br>
<span>policy changes introduced by the Board.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>I agree</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>-- </span><br>
<span>Mark James ELKINS - Posix Systems - (South) Africa</span><br>
<span><a href="mailto:mje@posix.co.za">mje@posix.co.za</a> Tel: +27.128070590 Cell: +27.826010496</span><br>
<span>For fast, reliable, low cost Internet in ZA: <a href="https://ftth.posix.co.za">
https://ftth.posix.co.za</a></span><br>
<span></span><br>
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