election controversy? - Re: Handover to new PDWG co-chairs [AfriNIC-rpd]

[sm+afrinic at elandsys.com]

At 07:57 AM 6/15/2011, gift wrote:
>Nomcom is not sure how the issue of the election has come up during 
>the hand over process.

Dr Paulos asked about the legitimacy of the PDWG Co-chairs.  I congratulated
Dr Paulos B Nyirenda and Tim McGinnis on their election previously ( 
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2011/001688.html ).  I have 
also mentioned that I do not have any issue with the appointment of 
the two new PDWG co-chairs ( 
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2011/001772.html ).

>However, since this issue has been brought up publicly, in the 
>spirit of transparency, we will endeavor to comment so that the 
>record is placed straight and also to give an official version of 
>what transpired to the incoming PDWG Co Chairs and other members who 
>were not at AfriNIC 14. There are no legitimacy issues arising from 
>the election as a

As Tim McGinnis was participating remotely, he probably knows what 
happened during the PDWG election part of the open public policy 
meeting.  Trevor Mwangi raised an interesting point about remote 
participants registering their protest ( 
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2011/001782.html ).

>  final poll was carried without any dissension. It is also 
> incorrect for S. Moonesamy to suggest that members were denied 
> their voice at the meeting:
>
>"I hope that any future NomCom will respond to community
>feedback instead of ignoring objections from the floor."

The quoted text does not include any suggestion that "members were 
denied their voice at the meeting".

>concerned there are no outstanding issues relating to the concluded 
>PDWG Co Chair elections as was witnessed during the meeting hence 
>the formal announcement by the ACEO. The job of Nomcom is to work 
>with the membership to deliver a democratic election and in the 
>process to deal with any arising challenges. In the end a member's 
>verdict was delivered. We should also accept that what transpired at 
>the elections is a learning opportunity to further deepen the 
>community's democratic and corporate governance systems. Nomcom will 
>accordingly be making the necessary recommendations in its report on 
>the elections.

There isn't any "membership" for the PDWG.  "It is expected that the 
NomCom will oversee all open elections conducted by AfriNIC during a 
given year, namely Board Seats, Policy Working Group Chairs and 
NRO-NC representatives".  "A democratic election" is not about 
displaying the list of candidates on a slide and announcing the 
results within a few seconds on the next slide ( 
http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic-14/images/stories/af14_slides/Day%201/Gift%20Shava%20-%20PDWG%20co-chairs%20election.pdf 
).  Fortunately, participants came to the microphone and objected to that.

I don't think that the community has a need for a "democratic and 
corporate governance system".  If Frank and Andrew can agree on 
whether questions are constructive ( 
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2011/001781.html ), Sunday 
Folayan can walk to the microphone and have his objections taken into 
account, Graham Beneke and Trevor Mwangi can ask questions without 
being present at the meeting, J. Walubengo and Mark Elkins can come 
to the microphone like any other participant, it is left to the 
community to appreciate whether it is an open and fair process where 
people can discuss and reach consensus.

It is up to the community to determine whether the message posted at 
https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2011/001791.html written by 
Gift Shava, Arbogast Fabian and Hago Dafalla is a fair representation 
of the events.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy