Thank you ALAN for your mail. I agree with you on some points and I disagree on others: I agree with you that a consultation with the RALO is mandatory as per the ICANN Bylaw I agree with you that any decision to accept or reject a RALO recommendation or appoint someone else is a decision of the ALAC I also agree with you that there has been a distinct lack of communication in all directions in the current situation And I finally agree with you that the proposal that Mohamed just made to have an internal selection process is the right way forward. It is based on Maureen’s proposal that I also applaud But I strongly disagree with you that the ALAC Chair who is doing a reasonable job should make discreet (that is private and confidential) discussion with some ALAC members to make sure there is a strong consensus on how to proceed. The discussion must be with _ALL_ ALAC members (except those who have a conflict of interest if any), in a closed meeting as we did in Panama last year, not with some of them. Why some and not all? I’m not with decisions prepared behind the doors among “a small group” of friends. I also disagree with your allusion to the fact that if the RALO recommendation is not accepted, ALAC can appoint a delegate to the NomCom without going back to the RALO or even the RALO Chair. You were prudent enough to say “there is no formal requirement”. But even that, I disagree with because the formal requirement is in the bylaws article 12.2.(d)(v): The ALAC shall, after consultation with each RALO, annually appoint five voting delegates (no two of whom shall be citizens of countries in the same Geographic Region) to the Nominating Committee. So ALAC appoints _AFTER_ consultation with the concerned RALO, not directly without going back to the RALO. Your explanation is that since the RALO proposed a name, it was consulted. My explanation is different based on the fact that there is no formal permission to the ALAC to appoint without going back to the RALO, and on the fact that ICANN has a governance model based on a bottom up decision making system. If ALAC appoints without going back to the RALO, its decision is top down My other disagreement is about your contestation about us often focus more on "democratic" procedures than on making sure we select knowledgeable and capable people for all positions. Do you mean the democratic process prevents the selection of the best people???? Our AFRALO community shose so far very good delegates to the NomCom using their democratic process: Yaovi Atohoun, Mohamed El Bashir, Dave kissoondoyal, Fatimata Seye Sylla and Aziz Hilali. You can ask for their 360 evaluation to see that they performed very well. Also, this year, our community made a good choice but there was an issue for him. Do you think that Smaller group deciding instead of the whole members will make a better decision? How do you guarantee that this small group will not choose people that they want (not the best or the best among their friends)?? Of course, we need knowledgeable and capable people. I still think that the democratic process is the right one to have the best people if the eligibility criteria are well defined in advance for each position, and if they don’t change according to the will of the chair or any other influent person. The solution is not to have smaller number of persons deciding instead of the whole members. The solution is in a pre-defined objective eligibility criteria for each position. ICANN is a bottom-up decision making organization. ALAC and At-Large must be and remain so as well. Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca> a écrit :
I have avoided commenting during this process but now that we seem to be in a level postilion, I do have a few comments to make.
Please note that these comments are NOT in reference to ANY candidate but are in relation to the process.
- In accordance with the ICANN Bylaws and the ALAC Rules of Procedure (RoP), the Nominating Committee delegates are selected by the ALAC. A consultation with the RALO is mandatory.
- Any decision to accept a RALO recommendation or appoint someone else is a decision of the ALAC. The Chair may certainly make a recommendation, but ultimately it is an ALAC decision. Prior to a Chair making such a formal recommendation, if he or she is doing a reasonable job, there would have been discreet (that is private and confidential) discussion with some or all advisors and ALAC Members to make sure there is a strong consensus on how to proceed. That is the process that I have followed in a similar situation last year and it is my understanding is that this is exactly the process that Maureen has followed.
- If a RALO candidate is not ratified (or recommended to not be ratified), there is no formal requirement to go back to the RALO or even the RALO Chair.
- Since we regularly (over many years) seem to have various people not understanding the NomCom delegate selection process, perhaps it is time to clarify the ALAC RoP.
- All of the above notwithstanding, there has been a distinct lack of communications in all directions in the current situation, and that is a problem that needs to be rectified - and it cannot be fixed with rules.
- The proposal that Mohamed just made, to have an internal selection process is one I applaud. If I understood correctly Remmy Nweke had earlier made such a suggestion. In my opinion, we (and that is both the ALAC and all RALOs) have often focused more on "democratic" procedures and not sufficiently on making sure we select knowledgeable and capable people for all positions. It is not typically sufficient to simply ask for volunteers (who may or may not have ANY of the skills needed) and then have a vote that is really a popularity contest and not a true evaluation of the candidates. For the ALAC, the situation has been largely remedied with the ALAC Appointee Selection Committee that began 3 years ago.
Alan
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