Public AGMs are more about the spirit of the Internet community/culture than the letter of Memorandum of Articles. I am aware that a good number of African countries have their National/Top level domain registry run as a private entities/NGOs and it works. Indeed in Kenya, Dr. Shem Ochuodho & Randy Bush did the same for .KE for ten years before we opted to go the multi-stakeholder way through a very long 10yr re-delagation process <https://www.iana.org/reports/2002/ke-report-20dec02.html>. So the question is why would we adopt a multi-stakeholder governance approach and then in practice prefer to be more like a private entity (closed AGMs?). You cant have your cake and eat it, the Englishman would say. If we chose to be a private (cake) so be it, we can go ahead and be as restrictive as is expected of private entities. But if we chose the multi-stakeholder approach (cake) we should be ready go through with what comes along with that - including often very noisy and public AGMs ;-) Do public AGMs add value? I should think so. Even from a simple public awareness perspective, a public AGM gives an opportunity for the next generation of ICT leaders to begin to learn about the ecosystem. It also gets the public to know their Directors and perhaps more importantly, give Directors an opportunity to share their vision for the future, while accounting for past to the wider community. walu. On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 4:50 PM Mwendwa Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> wrote:
Thanks Walu. Let me follow you up with these questions. What if the board feels the AGM should restricted? Would it be enough if board resolutions, minutes, and annual reports are availed online, but the AGM remains restricted? What about the allegations that there has never been an AGM for several years? Is that standard practice? Is it even necessary to hold the AGMs?
On Friday, 5 October 2018, John Walu <walu.john@gmail.com> wrote:
@Kivuva,
I think that in whatever form and shape KENIC is, it should endeavour to have an open AGM. I used to sit on the Afrinic Board <https://www.afrinic.net/> and legally speaking, their constitution does not allow any Tom, Dick and Harry in their meetings, but in practice, AfriNIC AGMs are open to pretty much to anyone who can afford to be present in the room or online.
Yes, most of the times we got hit, and hit badly from the floor, but at the end of the day, it id help Afrinic move forward in terms of accountability and transparency which is a good thing for any public interest entity.
Anway, KENIC used to have open AGMs, so it should be quite easy to kick that back in - if the directors so wish.
my two Satoshis,
walu.
On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 10:16 AM Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
The debate on revitalising our .ke ccTLD registry continues today. Yesterday, we tackled Governance issues. Suggestions were made, the major ones dealing with Transparency at the .ke registry, and Equality on representation. Thank you for contributing, reading, and listening. Please feel free to continue contributing to that thread, as we go to the theme of the day.
Today we will tackle Stakeholder Engagement and Operational Issues.
Public / Stakeholder Engagements 1. Should KeNIC hold Annual General Meetings? Is there value in holding the AGMs? 2. When was the last AGM held? 3. Can the annual reports, and deliberations of the AGMs be published on the KeNIC website? 4. Should the AGM be open to the public? 5. Accountability: How accountable is KeNIC? To whom does it account to?
Operational Issues 1. A great effort has been made to popularise the .ke brand, including some popular advertisements, using patriotism to encourage Kenyans, and opening up the second level. But numbers don't lie. Currently, we are at around 80,000 .ke domains, while South Africa is at 1.3million. Is there more work that can be done to make .Ke popular? 2. What are the challenges in selling the .ke brand? What are the opportunities? 3. Is there a challenge in generating content for the KeNIC website? Some pages as noted yesterday have not been updated for some years now. 4. What support does KeNIC give to Registrars?
Here are some statistics that I had shared on Tuesday, that may help in stimulating the debate.
Germany population 82.67 million .de domains: 16 million domains (one domain for every 5 people) Percentage Domain penetration: 19% .de is the third largest registry in the world and is ran by DENIC which is a non-regulated not-for-profit cooperative owned by registrars.
South Africa Population 56 million .za domain: 1.3 million domains (one domain for every 46 people) Percentage Domain penetration: 2.3% .za is the largest ccTLD in Africa, managed and regulated by ZADNA which is an agency of South African government under the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services.
Kenya population 50 million .ke domain: 79,773 domains (one domain for every 627 people) Percentage Domain penetration: 0.16% .ke is managed by KeNIC which is envisioned as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) entity
Looking forward to a fruitful debate. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Domain Registration sponsored by www.eacdirectory.co.ke
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/walu.john%40gmail.com
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwendwa-kivuva