[rpd] AFRINIC PDWG Co-Chair Selection Timeframe

[Owen DeLong]

> On May 2, 2022, at 16:44, Arnaud AMELINA <amelnaud at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Owen,
> It is weird that you dismissed my claim on Kampala, but referred to what happened in Dakar and Nairobi where according to you the outcomes were in my favor. 

How or why is it weird? I’m pointing out that the precedent was established well before Kampala and you neglected to mention those earlier meetings.

> Your forgot to mention  Lusaka, Tunisia, Gaborone. Etc. as we’ve been selecting cochairs by show of hands of participants in the room and the outcomes were probably in favor of somebody.

I did not forget them, but I wasn’t at Gaborone, so cannot comment from experience. As to Lusaka and Tunisia, I don’t recall the phenomenon you described being at issue in either of those cases.

> Your role and that of your employer in what happened in Kampala and what the PDP became post Kampala are in public domain.

Yes, we were quite open about what we were doing in bringing in young IT students to help train them on Internet governance and get them involved in the process. We intended it to be public.

This in contrast to the much less public domain importation of hair dressers and the like in Dakar and Nairobi where there was clearly no beneficial intent other than to drive some less than above board agenda.

> It is therefore not surprising  to see you and team deadly defending the same scenario for the upcoming cochair selection.

Team deadly? What an odd choice of terminology. Seems almost ad hominem, so perhaps the mailing list management should take note.

The only scenario I am defending is to follow the rules as they are written. If you want the rules changed, then follow the legitimate process for changing them. The only thing I am opposing here is to continue changing the rules ad hoc and at whim without the consensus of the community as measured through the proper and legitimate process that has been established for measuring that consensus and administering such changes in the policies and procedures.

> Any non-conflicted persons should be concerned that a WG and particularly a RIR PDP lacks a consensual cochairs selection method.

I am no more or less conflicted than you, sir. You represent are every bit as involved in some organization as I am.

Most RIR PDPs select their co-chairs through an electoral process and not consensus.

Nonetheless, if you wish to move to a consensus based process, then submit a policy proposal to do so and let’s see if it gains the consensus of the group as documented in the rules as they are written today.

> « You’re only at fault if you know about the problem and choose to do nothing »
> 
> I may not be the perfect candidate for the job, but without personal interests and just by serving AFRICA, I may just be less harmful than others.

I do not for one second believe that you are without personal interests and that you seek only to serve AFRICA.

Indeed, I think you have an agenda to serve a particular subset of the community. It may well be that you serve that subset well. It is a subset I often find myself disagreeing with. It is a fairly large subset, though I think it is still a distinct minority.

> I conclude by reminding you that your intimidations and supremacist behaviors never impressed  people from this region as to when we stand for AFRICA and AFRINIC.

Intimidations? Please explain this as I can’t think of anything I’ve done which constitutes an effort to intimidate anyone. I have tried to hold the board accountable and call attention when they have violated the rules of good governance and/or the AFRINIC bylaws, but that is my duty as a member of the community. That’s not intimidation, that’s accountability.

Owen