To decide the body we want, we must first agree on what ISOC Kenya wants to do. Here is some basic info: -------- Society: 10 or more people registered under the Societies Act for purposes of association. Easy to register and operate as one only has to have elections as per society's Constitution and file annual returns which do not attract many taxes. Ideal for democratic groups of people associating as a co-curricular activity because members can carry out a wide scope of activities as described in their constitution. Requirements for registration: constitution,registered office, interim officials, statutory fees... Trust/Foundation: Very ambiguous in Kenyan law. Requires execution of a trust deed with names of trustees. returns require filing of trust accounts (because a trust basically means keeping properties on behalf of others) Many foundations which carry out a lot of activities end up just registering a company limited by guarantee (eg KENIC)where the law is clearer. NGO "Non-Governmental Organization" means a private voluntary grouping of individuals or associations, not operated for profit or for other commercial purposes but which have organized themselves nationally or internationally for the benefit of the public at large and for the promotion of social welfare, development charity or research in the areas inclusive of, but not restricted to, health, relief, agriculture, education, industry and the supply of amenities and services.....this definitely excludes public bodies To register an NGO one needs a constitution, a declaration on offices of the organization;the head office and postal address of the organization; the sectors of the proposed operations; the districts, divisions and locations of the proposed activities; the proposed average annual budgets; the duration of the activities; all sources of funding;national and international affiliation. They are subject to taxes. Cheers, Grace 2011/9/2 Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com>
You can also be a Trust. Mayb @Bomu could explore which is the better option..Society, NGO, Trust, Foundation etc.
walu.
--- On *Fri, 9/2/11, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>* wrote:
From: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [ISOC_KE] Draft By Laws ISOC_Ke To: "Grace Mutung'u (Bomu)" <nmutungu@gmail.com>, "McTim" < dogwallah@gmail.com>, isoc@lists.my.co.ke Date: Friday, September 2, 2011, 1:02 AM
Absolutely Grace, I wonder what's the take of members, should we just be a society or an NGO, I prefer the former, secondly how will the society relate with our cctld registry?
On 9/1/11, Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) <nmutungu@gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=nmutungu@gmail.com>> wrote:
BTW, this society also has to be registered in Kenya with the Registrar of Societies. Someone should keep that in mind as we apply for the chapter registration too. Yes, I will be happy to assist once people have given their input. Cheers!
2011/9/1 Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=otieno.barrack@gmail.com>
Thanks McTim and Grace for your insightfull responses, Grace and any other members from the legal fraternity, do you mind volunteering your expertise to help refine the document, as mentioned a member volunteered to put this together and it is great to see the reactions coming forth, what do other members think?, Jolie posted a copy of bylaws for the NY chapter we can also compare the two.
On 9/1/11, McTim <dogwallah@gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=dogwallah@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi,
Where did these come from? (copy and pasted from somewhere else I imagine, as it would be a lot of work to write up new by-laws from scratch!)
here are my nits picked:
1.ii "To represent the Kenyan Internet community in government committees and in other local and international forums that deal with the various technical, legal and social aspects of the Internet,"
Are such bodies as ISOC allowed to sit on government committees? Or are we talking about things like the ICT Board and IPv6 forum??
I would like Section 1. to say more about increasing Interent access in Kenya I think.
When did we decide we would have dues paying members? I had thought that was an open issue?
Section 7:
"7. Any members of the Chapter may file charges against a member by filing a written complaint with the Secretary of the Chapter."
WTF is this about? Is this needed? really?
Article IV
2". Board membership shall be drawn from key sectors of the Kenyan Internet community, primarily sponsoring organizations:
Government (1)
Private Sector (2)
Academia (1)
Civil Society (1)
Members-at-large (2)"
I'm not so keen on divvying up seats like this. What if we can't find a good person from gov't to sit on the Board? Will we be then forced to have a clueless person on the Board just to satisfy the By-laws?
Same with the other stakeholder groups I think.
In general I think we will have problems due to the gender parity rules.
If there are 7 board Members, and 1/3 must be women, then that means at least 3 women. If there are 4 officer seats, and a 1/3 must be women, then that means 2 women at all times must be Officers.
What if we have problems recruiting that many women willing to serve?
Article XII 1:
"All proposed changes to these Chapter Bylaws shall have been approved by the Senior Manager, Chapters and individual Memberships"
Who is the "Senior Manager" ?
In general I find it to be a very formal document, suggesting physical offices, Standing committees, etc. Will we be able to sustain such an operation?
What will our source(s) of funding come from?
For a first draft tho, it's not bad!
Regards,
McTim
On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=otieno.barrack@gmail.com> wrote:
Listers,
Kindly go through the attached document prepared by one of us, let us comment on the same before the next meeting.
-- Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afrire <http://www.afriregister.com>gister.bi, www.afriregister.com<http://www.afriergister.com> <http://www.afriregister.com>ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno
_______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke <http://mc/compose?to=isoc@lists.my.co.ke> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
-- Cheers,
McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel
-- Sent from my mobile device
Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afrire <http://www.afriregister.com>gister.bi, www.afriregister.com<http://www.afriergister.com> <http://www.afriregister.com>ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno _______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke <http://mc/compose?to=isoc@lists.my.co.ke> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
-- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: GraceMutung'u (Bomu)
-- Sent from my mobile device
Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afrire <http://www.afriregister.com>gister.bi, www.afriregister.com<http://www.afriergister.com> <http://www.afriregister.com>ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno _______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke <http://mc/compose?to=isoc@lists.my.co.ke> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc
-- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: GraceMutung'u (Bomu)