AFRINIC Benjamin Eshun appointed as Chairman & Dr. Abdalla Omari, Vice-Chairman of AFRINIC
The AFRINIC Annual General Members’ Meeting (AGMM) is held once a year, usually during an AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting.
Last Friday, the Annual General Members Meeting of AFRINIC was held at Le Méridien Hotel, Mauritius. The AGMM was held in a hybrid format – members could attend the meeting on-site or virtually via an online meeting platform.
Representatives of Resource Members could vote on polls either on-site or online, through the my.afrinic.net members portal.
The AGMM was scheduled to start at 10h00 UTC. A few members protested that the meeting cannot start as several members had not yet receive their online meeting token. Some members reported that the token they received was not good.
The first meeting token I received was not good either and I instantly reported that to legal@afrinic.net. A few minutes later I received another token which allowed me the join the meeting.
Observers could attend the meeting on-site in a separate meeting room and the meeting was also live streamed on YouTube. Observers cannot vote in polls, comment on the proceedings or ask questions.
The meeting atmosphere remained heated during the whole time.
The meeting was adjourned for 1 hour, allowing tokens to be re-generated and sent to all registered members. However, the next few hours the meeting scene remained the same.
Motions were raised, polls were called, but the overall aim of the AGMM, in my opinion, remained unfulfilled. Firstly, the Board Elections could not be carried out due to a court injunction preventing the same. Secondly, the motion to adopt the audited financial accounts failed.
Appointments on the AFRINIC Board
Among all these upheaval, a Board of Directors meeting was held on Sunday, 5 June 2022 and Mr. Benjamin Eshun was appointed as the new Board Chairmain. Dr. Abdalla Omari was appointed as Vice-Chairman.
Disagreements followed on the AFRINIC Members mailing list. Some members claimed that the requirement of 5 directors to make a quorum could not have been fulfilled since three seats are now vacant in the Board and therefore, these appointments are not valid.
I wish the new Chairman and Vice-Chairman all the best ahead. I thank S. Moonesamy, former Board Chair and Prod. H. Youssef, former Vice-Chair for their time, guidance and leadership on the AFRINIC Board.