[Chapter-delegates] forwarded email from Richard Bell

[Desiree Miloshevic]

Dear Chapter delegates,

Richard Bell is not subscribed to the Chapter Delegates lists (yet),
so he kindly asked me to forward his posting to the list.

Desiree Miloshevic
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To: ISOC Chapter Delegates

I have been asked some pointed and pertinent questions by a couple of
Chapter delegates with respect to my suitability to represent Chapters 
on the Board of Trustees. I think that the comments are relevant, worthy 
of a response, and I take this opportunity to respond to them through 
Desiree who has kindly agreed to post my comments on the Chapter list.

My understanding is that the concerns center essentially around two themes:
. Kenya is currently not listed on the ISOC site as either having an
existing Chapter or a Chapter in formation - how then is a Kenyan 
suitable to represent other Chapters?
. Given that I have not run a Chapter what qualities and experience do
I have that I think make me suitable to represent Chapters on the board.

It is true that Kenya does not currently have a full ISOC Chapter 
however Alex Gakuru and others have put considerable effort into getting 
one started. Far from being a reflection of apathy in Kenya, the absence 
of a consensus to date is rather a reflection of the very active, vocal 
and engaged nature of Kenya's Internet community. Kenya has been through 
many challenges: first a fight to liberalize the telecommunications 
industry (which largely thanks to a strong industry association, TESPOK, 
was won), then a fight to establish an independent Internet Exchange 
Point (KIXP was finally established and is now one of the most active in 
Africa), finally a lengthy consensus building process to create a truly 
stakeholder driven ccTLD (Kenic is now considered a role model of how a 
properly structure ccTLDs can really bring substantial benefits to the 
internet community within a country). Within the broader civil society 
arena the consensus building process is ongoing. Over the last few years 
we have had various organizations taking up the challenge of vocalizing 
and representing our civil society's views: the Computer Society, 
National E-Commerce Task Force, KICTanet, Kenya Information Society 
(KISS), Kenya Private Sector Foundation ICT Board (KEPSA), have all 
played an important part in the process and others are still emerging to 
take up the challenge. The fact that we have to date been unable to 
reach sufficient consensus to create an ISOC Chapter is a reflection of 
our dynamic, diverse and liberated Kenyan Internet community. I feel 
sure that there will be a meeting of the minds and that over the next 
few months we will start to draw the consensus building process to a 
conclusion and the result will be a committed, active and driven ISOC 
chapter that can play a full and enriching role in all of ISOC's activities.

The issue of consensus is an important one but one must never forget 
that the purpose of consensus is to then use that consensus to deliver 
tangible results in whatever field we are striving to advance. I have 
been involved in several consensus building processes that have 
delivered tangible results:

. I was the founding Chairman of TESPOK (the Telecommunications
Service Providers Association of Kenya) which having built a consensus
amongst the Industry players was able to use that consensus to force the
government to liberalize the telecommunications sector and to create the
KIXP (the Kenyan Internet Exchange).

. I was a founding Chairman of KENIC (the Kenya Network Information
Center, Kenya's ccTLD) which was able to use the multi stakeholder 
consensus built between stakeholders from government, academia, civil 
society and industry to create a truly stakeholder driven ccTLD which 
has subsequently demonstrated considerable leadership within the ccTLD 
community as a whole.

. I was on the founding Board of Trustees of AfriNIC which was after
several years of consensus building able to deliver a fully functional 
and accredited RIR in Africa.

My proven track record is therefore one of building consensus around
substantive issues that need addressing and then using that consensus to
deliver tangible results to those I have been chosen to represent. I
believe that I have demonstrated my commitment to the greater cause of 
ICT development in Africa. I also believe that I have demonstrated that 
when given responsibility I fulfill those responsibilities without favor 
and to the best of my abilities. I accept that not having led an ISOC 
Chapter has its shortcomings but then I am equally confident that the 
delegates form the nearly 80 ISOC Chapter who I would be representing 
will be supportive and allow me the benefit of their experience as 
required. I therefore believe that in the complicated balancing act that 
faces ISOC Chapters in negotiating their way through the evolution of 
ISOC in the next few years and the whole debate around the future of the 
Internet itself I can and will represent the views of ISOC Chapters in a 
way that first builds consensus and then uses that consensus to deliver 
tangible results.

I hope that you find my comments useful, enlightening and constructive.

Yours sincerely,
Richard Bell (Kenyan)
ISOC Chapter Nominee

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