[kictanet] Kenya rattles Africa WICT group with proposal on Internet, IXPs

[Mawaki Chango]

Not withstanding the substance of the position, the reaction of the
African group to such move by the PS was to be expected.

First of all, I never met the PS until I saw and listen to him at the
IGF in Baku. I also listened to other people talk about him, his track
record working with civil society, etc. And I'm a fan of the more
progressive way (compared to so many other African countries) Kenya
has been handling its policy-making in this area and in others, as of
late. As a result, I must say, I became a bit confused at the notion
that there would be one common African position backed by Kenya,
Ethiopia, Mali, Togo, Sudan, etc.

When you come to a treaty or any negotiating conference with a group's
common position which you have declared or are reputed to support and
you are pulled to a different (indeed opposing) position by another
stakeholder outside your group, you don't take them by surprise by
announcing your "new" position at the plenary. You first work your
group, which enables you to enlist perhaps new allies and give a
notice to those who still oppose your new position. The kind of
reactions we are seeing here was to be expected from the way this has
been handled (based on the current account). In a sense, the writing
was on the wall...

Cheers,

Mawaki

On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 6:58 AM, McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:
> Becky,
>
> On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:20 AM, Rebecca Wanjiku
> <rebeccawanjiku at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> http://www.wanjiku.co.ke/2012/12/kenya-rattles-africa-group-at-wict/
>
>
> Thanks for giving us a sense of the drama.
>
> The African Common Position, was, IMHO, against African interests
> (against the interests of the mwananchi at least).
>
> Bwana Ndemo was correct to stand up and do the right thing.
>
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> McTim
> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
>
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