The KeNIC we want: Stakeholder engagement and Operations
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.
Hi all, Some very quick thoughts about just two of the questions you posed:
5. Accountability: How accountable is KeNIC? To whom does it account to?
The question of accountability of ccTLDs is handled in a number of ways. Surely there is some accountability to ICANN. To registrars. And then of course domain users. One interesting consideration is perhaps KeNIC should conduct a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) on a periodic basis. Some other ccTLDs are doing this, and ICANN is doing one itself. HRIAs are a good way to systematically engage in a feedback process with all stakeholders.
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?
It's common for many TLDs to offer some kind of additional services or perks for domain owners. Some examples are: .ngo domain holders have access to a community of all other domain holders and have their organisation's information published on a public database. They can also receive charitable donations through the platform. Perhaps there are some best practices from the industry in providing perks to domain users. Perhaps some of that research has already been done. But good to think creatively about what KeNIC might offer to domain users beyond just the domain. Or maybe there are perks that domain owners already receive with the KeNIC domain? I would be interested to know what they are. -Mallory On 05/10/2018 10:12, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet 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.
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@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
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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.
@Mallory, plus one to HRIA and other assessments of KeNICs business. So far all we get are number of domains registered. @Kivuva, was looking online for KENIC financials. How much money is sitting in the organisation, how is it being used, is it a cause of current disputes? Il venerdì 5 ottobre 2018, John Walu via kictanet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> ha scritto:
@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
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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.
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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
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
I hear you Walu. Very sound arguments. There is one specific questions I wanted to get your view on; whether we should have an AGM in the first place (public or private). I'm still following up with the claim that no AGM has been held at KeNIC for 5 years or more. At least KeNIC could debunk this statement if they are responsive to community interests. Also Bwana Walu, private companies with private AGMs still publish annual reports. Is that so? On Fri, Oct 5, 2018, 5:48 PM John Walu <walu.john@gmail.com> wrote:
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
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Mwendwa and all Let me make correction to an oft misunderstood concept of AGMs. There is NOTHING like a private AGM. AGMs are supposed to give Stakeholders/Shareholders a chance to hold Board Members accountable. The fundamental question is this:- If there is no AGM who holds the Directors accountable? This is an important issue. If we take DRAKE for example. If the Director representing DRAKE is deemed not to be representing the organization according to its brief to her/him then they can exercise their vote to remove him from the board of KeNIC. As it is this is not happening. So basically the Board of KeNIC has been derelict in its fundamental role as a guardian of the organization. Regards *Ali Hussein* *Principal* *AHK & Associates* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> 13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing, Chiromo Road, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 7:33 PM Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
I hear you Walu. Very sound arguments.
There is one specific questions I wanted to get your view on; whether we should have an AGM in the first place (public or private). I'm still following up with the claim that no AGM has been held at KeNIC for 5 years or more. At least KeNIC could debunk this statement if they are responsive to community interests.
Also Bwana Walu, private companies with private AGMs still publish annual reports. Is that so?
On Fri, Oct 5, 2018, 5:48 PM John Walu <walu.john@gmail.com> wrote:
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
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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
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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.
The KeNIC we want is one that delivers, lives, breathes its mandate: increase the uptake of .ke domains, full stop! KeNIC is the largest player in the Kenyan ccTLD market, setting the pace of the local domain market. It is thus instructive that the body acts in the best interest of growing the market. It must avoid any moves that run counter to this goal. There are 4 key factors in the success of any business: price, product, place and promotion. The 4 P's of marketing. In our case, the product is the domain, which for all practical purposes, is a commodity. The place is 'everywhere with an internet connection', meaning that you can now get a .ke domain from all over the world. Promotion is generally Internet-based, as the case with most other domains. The big P however, is the price - which was kind-of okay until 2017, when it was doubled overnight. In a commodity market, eg sugar, salt etc, the biggest determiner of a successful sale is the price. Not allusion to patriotism or other such ideas. A case in point; when at a supermarket, what drives the purchase of a 2 kg pack of sugar? Country of origin, or price? What is your answer if one 2kg packet is 250/- while the other is 500/-? This very scenario is the current scene in the local domain market. And yes, to the non-attached person, a domain name serves the simple purpose of translating a human-readable name into an ip address. mydukakenya.com vs mygeneralduka.co.ke inspire little difference to many - thus a commodity. But why is this important? In your question, Bw. Kivuva, you posited that South Africa has 1.3 million domains while Kenya has 80,000 domains. A quick glance through the Internet (place, promotion) shows that the annual renewal for a .co.za is 75 rand, roughly equivalent to 525 Kenya shillings. Now, this is the price of the commodity in a South African market where the GDP per capita is USD 7,500 (KES 750,000). In comparison, the wholesale renewal price, as set by KeNIC, is a whopping 1,160 Kenya shillings - double the South African retail price. For a registrar to sell this off at a decent margin, the price set will be around KES 2,320! This, by the way, is in a Kenyan market whose GDP per capita is USD 3,000 (KES 300,000). In a nutshell, we are selling the commodity at *4 times the price* to people with *half the economic power* and wondering why they are not buying from us.The comparison is worse when considering the .com domains where most buyers are in the American economy. Ditto the .de domains and the German economy. *It is the equivalence of selling a loaf of bread for 400/- at a local Kenyan supermarket. A supermarket where other loaves of bread are going for 50/-. * This thus begs the question, what would push a body, whose sole reason for existence is to encourage the adoption of Kenyan domains, make such a clearly blinded move? The earlier conversations here about governance - how we do things - come to the fore. As general knowledge, governance is the glue that ties the organization to its mandate. When governance is poor, the organization drifts away from its mandate. All decisions and movements made by KeNIC must be to the benefit of the Kenyan domain market. If the allegations made by one of KeNIC's members, DRAKE, are thus founded, then one must draw a line of connection between this bad pricing situation and bad governance. The inefficiencies and losses suffered through poor governing systems must be covered by something, or someone. Inefficiencies come up through bad purchases that bring little value back, market-insensitive decisions, poor hiring and firing reasons - the list goes on. These inefficiencies are covered by higher domain prices. As discussed above, this is as short-sighted as it can be, market loss is inevitable. Regards, -- Davis Waithaka On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 10:12 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
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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.
participants (6)
-
Ali Hussein -
Davis Waithaka -
Grace Bomu -
John Walu -
Mallory Knodel -
Mwendwa Kivuva