AFRINIC AFRINIC Board Elections

The Africa Internet Summit 2020 was held from 14 to 18 September 2020. The event initially scheduled to take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo in June 2020, had to be postponed and then changed to an online event due to the pandemic.

AIS'20 Online kicked off on Monday with opening remarks by AFNOG Secretariat, Isatou Jah followed by a welcome message by Prof. Nii Quaynor.

The highlights of the summit were the Policy Discussions which took place on Thursday 17 September and the AFRINIC Board Elections that were held on the last day of the summit, i.e Friday 18 September. Electronic voting had begun two weeks ago and it ended on Friday.

The candidates for the Board Elections were as follows:

Seat 3 (Indian Ocean)

1. Kaleem Usmani
2. Subramanian Moonesamy

Seat 4 (Central Africa)

1. Serge Kabwika Ilunga

Seat 6 (Eastern Africa)

1. Abdalla Omari
2. Fiona Asonga

Seat 8 (Non-Regional)

1. Alan Levin
2. Benjamin Eshun
3. Jacob Kwaku Odame-Baiden

Results

The results of elections are as follows:

• Board - Seat 4 (Central Africa), Serge Kabwika Ilunga, to serve a three-year term
• Board - Seat 6 (Eastern Africa), Abdalla Omari, to serve a two-year term.
• Board - Seat 3 (Indian Ocean), Subramanian Moonesamy, to serve a three-year term
• Board - Seat 8 (Non-Regional), Benjamin Eshun, to serve a three-year term.

I was particularly interested to see the turn-out for the Indian Ocean region. Candidate Kaleem Usmani is the Head of CERT-MU and has always been elusive to my questions. That is not something I would expect from someone holding a high position in a government agency and being on government payroll; especially when «providing information and assistance to its constituents» remain the mission of the Computer Emergency Response Team of Mauritius (CERT-MU).

I was not surprised at all and very happy to see Subramanian Moonesamy (SM) win the Indian Ocean seat. He secured the position of AFRINIC Board Director for the next three years.