[kictanet] Ministry seeks more seats at KENIC
Sammy Buruchara
buruchara at me.com
Fri Aug 17 16:49:59 EAT 2012
Dear Listers,
Following a number of posts in regard to KENIC. I would like to offer some
clarifications.
KENIC is at an advanced stage in the implementation of the Institutional
Assessment Recommendations which among other things is the review of the
stakeholders.
In the Strategic Plan Review that took place last month, the following
stakeholders were selected based on the value they bring to the KENIC Board
to enable KENIC meet its mandate of growing the .ke name space in Kenya.
The criteria used for the selection of the stakeholders was:
- Validly registered organization with physical offices and
location
- Organizations that can impact the growth of the .ke
- Representation from all sectors of the Kenyan Community (Govt,
private sector, academia, consumers.
The selected organizations will be introduced at the AGM and represent
various sectors of the Internet community deemed to have direct impact on
the growth of KENIC.
Consequently the following organizations were selected:
- CCK (Govt, Regulatory, ) (Founder Member)
- TESPOK (Telecom Operators)(Founder Member)
- DRAKE (Domain Registrars)
- KENNET( Education, Academia)
- KEPSA(Industry, Private Sector)
- MOIC (Govt, Policy)
- KOFEC (Consumers & End users)
The appointment of KICTANET as Associate Board member and later Board member
in 2007 was based on the understanding that KICTANET is a legally
constituted organization with valid registration papers . However the
Institutional Assessment report indicated that they did not receive any
documents to ascertain its registration status.
One of the recommendations of the Institutional Assessment Report was the
alignment of the Board Charter with Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The Company Secretary is in the process of making the necessary changes to
meet this alignment condition.
An AGM in law is a meeting of members of an Organization who are contained
in the MEMART and have signed a guarantee, and Board Directors. Contrary to
past practice, the KENIC AGM legally will be composed of the representatives
of the two founder members listed in the Memorandum & Articles of
Association, namely CCK & TESPOK, Directors of the Board, and
representatives of the Stakeholder organizations listed above invited as
observers.
It is important to note that KENIC is in a dynamic process of change and
some of the information being posted on this list about the organization
have taken a "snap shot" picture of KENIC at some time in history and do not
take into account the many changes that have since taken place.
While it is healthy to discuss the status of KENIC as the .ke Registry, it
is important to note that there are organizations and individuals who have
worked hard to bring KENIC to its current status.
At the dawn of Internet in Kenya, we all relied on Mr. Randy Bush in Oregon
USA to register .ke domains. TESPOK and CCK at the time strange bedfellows
came together and developed a plan to take over the management of .ke from
Randy Bush. Indeed during their meetings, many observers were intrigued to
see competitors and regulator sit together over a cup of tea as they were
sworn enemies. But it is this multi-stakeholder spirit that eventually
succeeded in wresting the control of .ke from the individual to Kenyans and
it has been one of our prides in the Internet community.
There are still a number of cctld that are managed by individuals while
others are struggling to take off.
KENIC in 2010 successfully hosted the ICANN meeting in Nairobi a major feat
considering the negative political image Kenya had earned since the Post
2007 elections. Again it was a combination of Govt through Ministry of
Information, CCK, TESPOK and Industry Sponsors that made the event a
success.
Some of the posts seem to create a situation which does not exist. The
representatives of the key stakeholders are confident of the operations of
the registry. We would welcome suggestions of any section of the community,
duly constituted, that is not properly represented. Also I wish to state
that there is no tension or animosity between the private sector represented
in KENIC and govt as may be alluded in previous posts.
Finally for those of you who attended the Opening Ceremony of ICANN 2010 at
KICC, the Vice President in his speech said that KENIC should grow its cash
reserves to be able to run for 24 months with zero income. This was the
standard set for sustainability. KENIC is working towards this goal and
expect to achieve it within the Strategic Plan period ending 2015.
I trust that this serves to clarify the issues raised.
Kind regards
Sammy Buruchara
Change Manager
From: kictanet
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+buruchara=mac.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
Of Alice Munyua
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 5:31 PM
To: buruchara at mac.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Ministry seeks more seats at KENIC
Dear Ali and all,
If you recall, KICTANet, Drake and KIMA were all invited to serve on the
board in
2007, initially as associate members and then admitted as full board
members through a board resolution.
Stakeholders interviewed during the KENIC Institutional assessment
process (April 2012) identified stakeholder's representation as one of
the top 5 issues of concern.
The assessment exercise also found that only 3 of the organisations
represented on the board, (TESPOK, KENET and CCK) had "provided their
organisation's registration documents". In addition, the assessment
noted, "There is a lack of consistency in the documents required of
members and their organisation".
There was an agreement that it is necessary to implement recommendations
coming
out of the assessment exercise, among these are recommendations about
board members tenure of office, appointment, retirement, etc. We had
hoped to discuss and finalise (implement) this during the August AGM.
Anyway, P.S Dr. Ndemo's statement on BD: "I think the
right question we need to ask is where the term stakeholder is defined
as only registered firms. The Constitution now demands public
participation, which I assume to mean stakeholders," I agree with him. And
at the same time note that who and how many
stakeholders may vary for various organisations as policy, regulatory
and technical environment changes (e.g. several key stakeholders,
normally stay put others may migrate in and out) and as such we must
consider issues such as: Who are the stakeholders? Who is responsible for
identifying
them? Processes need to be clearly identified and agreed and
followed. There must be transparency they are important issues for
discussion.
The assessment recommends among other things, definition of "adequate
particulars. after a thorough stakeholder review on importance of
stakeholder, purpose of engagement and expected outcome upon
engagement"
Hope this will be an agenda item for the upcoming AGM and wish KeNIC
all the best.
Best
Alice
On 15/08/2012 04:41, Ali Hussein wrote:
Listers
I feel that as a former board member I cannot let this news report in the
Business Daily go unanswered. In the interest of balanced reporting allow me
to state the following:
More Government involvement I guess is something that had to happen. Not
sure its necessarily a good thing.
The current board composition beyond what the Business Daily reported is
that Government has defacto 5 Board seats at KeNIC - 3 from CCK - Lucky
Waendi (who resigned almost immediately after I did. The resignation of
Lucky is telling since it came after a month where her Directorship was
withdrawn by CCK only to be reinstated after the then Chairperson of KeNIC,
Alice Munyua was mandated by the full board to seek audience with the CCK Ag
DG to reconsider her withdrawal as she provided valuably Company
Secretarial duties. Although this slot on the Board remains empty,
technically it can still be filled). The other directors representing CCK at
KeNIC are Michael Katundu and the Director General. Government is also
represented by someone from the eGovernment Secretariat. In addition to the
new appointment from the Ministry of Information & Communication we now have
at least technically 5 Government Representatives on the Board of KeNIC.
The other board members are from KIMA (Kenya Internet Marketing Assiciation)
which was represented by Moses Kemibaro who has since resigned and not been
replaced to date; Drake which I served and resigned so that I can be
replaced by somebody else from Drake. For full disclosure the reason for my
resignation are two fold:-
1. The membership of Drake which is primarily made up of Domain Registrars
felt that I no longer represented their interests therefore I felt that it
was incumbent upon me to resign and let fresh blood come in.
2. The board charter (at least up until when I resigned) was clear that a
board member can only serve two terms and should then be replaced. I'm sure
this is something that KeNIC isn't fully implementing as there are Board
Members who have been serving since 2002/3. I felt that this may create a
positive precedence and allow for more transparency in the circulation of
board members going forward.
I also believe that there is at least one other board member who we are not
sure which organization he represents.
My humble opinion is that the issue is mainly one of Corporate Governance.
When an institution that was primarily formed as a Multi-Stakeholder entity
becomes embroiled in what seems like Schizophrenic behavior you have a
situation as we do today. Why do I say this? You can't wake up one morning
and decide that because one Organization isn't registered then it should
loose its board seat while others whose registrations haven't been completed
still retain their seats. I'm referring here to Drake & KIMA. It doesn't
seat very well and smacks of Double Standards.
The issues at KeNIC cannot be wished away ladies & gentlemen. Packing it
with more directors from Government although will temporarily steady the
ship moves it away from being a Multi-stakeholder organization.
In a posting last month I intimated at the real issues. Let me recap here
the genesis of the problem as I see it. I by no means have a monopoly of
ideas on what the real issues are but this is wholly my personal opinion and
observations during my time as a director at KeNIC.
Firstly there have been mainly two opposing (sometimes 3) sides at the Board
Level:-
1. Government Functionaries that would like KeNIC to operate as a wholly
owned subsidiary of CCK;
2. Private Sector types (then represented by myself and Moses Kemibaro) who
would like KeNIC to embrace more private sector ethos;
3. And Not For Profit types who advocated a middle ground...
With this kind of representation it was both a major strength (when it
worked) and at the same time a major weakness) since some of us sometimes
felt that the bureaucracy was stifling the implementation of the Strategic
Plan. Case in point:- it took the Board more than six months to approve the
marketing plan!!
There were allegations that one of us at the board level took to personally
intimidate the staff to the extent of being abusive. These allegations were
never substantiated but the fact that they were even raised is a major issue
and an indictment of the board's leadership.
Then there is the issue of the new ICT law that requires KeNIC to be
licensed by the CCK. I make two observations here:-
1. Firstly that there has always been suspicion that one of us at the board
level used machiavelli type manipulation to ensure that the bill drafting
included a clause that would make KeNIC a licensee of the CCK and basically
make the principle of Multi-Stakeholderism null and void. In fact I can say
here with total conviction that this issue at some point totally paralysed
us at the Board Level and that TESPOK (then represented) by Sammy Buruchara
was vehemently and violently opposed to this clause to the extent that he
personally accused some board members representing CCK with being behind
this to ensure that they control KeNIC. Board minutes will clearly attest to
this.
2. Is it good practice to have a Licensor sit at an organization that it
licenses or is required by law to license? This is the genesis of the issue
that is facing us today. CCK has 3 seats at KeNIC. It is not for me to judge
but for the community to do so.. The analogy here is whether CCK should then
also not have board representation at Safaricom and Orange as these two
organizations are still partly owned by the people of Kenya and are at the
same time licensees of CCK.
By the way there is no right or wrong on how a ccTLD is managed. There are
various ways how countries do this. The link below will provide listers with
some perspective:
http://www.cctldinfo.com/home.php
The point I am making is that we must decide which way we want KeNIC
governed as this situation is getting out of hand and intimating that there
are no issues at KeNIC in my opinion is being intellectually dishonest.
At this juncture I commend Dr.Ndemo for moving swiftly to get more
information at KeNIC by requesting a board seat for the Min of Infocom. This
will hopefully bring to light the issues at hand and probably see KeNIC take
its rightful place in the InfoComm space in our beloved country.
Interestingly I see parallels in the fight for control of KeNIC and what is
happening at the global level with the ITRs, the forthcoming WCIT in Dubai
and the fight for control of ICANN.
Lastly I urge Alice to come forward and also say her piece as the report in
the Business Daily may not have fully captured the situation.
I remain your servant
Ali Hussein
+254 773/713 601113
Sent from my iPhoneR
On Aug 14, 2012, at 1:30 AM, Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com> wrote:
The Ministry of Information and Communications is seeking more seats on the
board of the Kenya Network Information Centre (Kenic), to help solve what it
says are problems at the domain registration firm.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Ministry+seeks+more+seats+
on+Internet+firm+board+/-/539550/1478442/-/item/1/-/holrre/-/index.html
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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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