The KeNIC we want: Stakeholder engagement and Operations

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
<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 <[email protected]>
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 <[email protected]> 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
>> <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 <
>> [email protected]> 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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>>
>
> —
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> www.linkedin.com/in/mwendwa-kivuva
>

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