[Wikimedia Kenya] The Elections Programme - WikimediaKE

20 Mar 2012

Hallo everyone,
The team in charge of overlooking the election process managed to meet
yesterday for the first time. The team is composed of Branton, Cliff and I,
and the meet-up was aimed at brainstorming on how the upcoming election
will be conducted and to plan for all the activities that will precede the
actual election. Generally, we aim at having a free and fair election
process that will also be educative and eventful. Hence, we call for all
members to kindly come out and support this activity in a positive manner.
The different activities that we agreed on and the dates we expect them to
be performed are stated below:

   1. *Declaration of intention.* This serves as an official announcement
   by a member to contest for the position of board member of WMKE. This can
   be done on our official mailing list, as most of you have done, and the
   last date for this activity will be on Wednesday, 21st March 2012 by
   1159hours.
   2. *Registration of contestants.* This will involve the determination of
   whether an applicant is eligible to contest for the position of a board
   member of WMKE as per the Chapter's Constitution or any other rules agreed
   upon by the members. This is fully the responsibility of the electoral team
   and the results are to be released on Saturday, 24th March 2012 between
   noon and 1159hours.
   3. *Setup of the contestants bio-page.* A bio page on the wiki will be
   setup for the purpose of giving all the contestants an opportunity to
   wikify their plea to the members on why they are best suited for the job.
   This will be coordinated by the electoral team and the bio-page on the wiki
   will be setup on Friday, 23rd March 2012 by 1159hours.
   4. *Bio posting by the qualified contestants. *All the contestants that
   qualify to contest will be expected to post their bio's on the developed
   wiki (Number 3) by Sunday, 25th March 2012 at 1159hours. Note that a
   qualified contestant has 24 hours to complete this task or be disqualified.
   5. *Posting of Questions to the contestants. *In order for us to have a
   Question and Answers (Q&A) session online, questions will be sent to the to
   all qualified contestants by e-mail. The electoral team will then receive
   the various responses from the qualified contestants (PRIVATELY), after
   which the team will wikify them depending on the contestants turn to
   respond to the views and opinions of the members. This posting will be done
   on Sunday, 25th March 2012 by 1159hours.
   6. *Response to questions asked by the contestants. *The contestants are
   expected to respond to the questions asked on Monday, 26th by 1800hours.
   They will send this responses to the electoral team privately and NOT on
   our usual mailing list. This is aimed at ensuring the Q&A sessions are
   conducted in an orderly manner and equal time will be availed to all
   contestants to interact with the members.
   7. *Q&A sessions.* This will involve the posting of the responses
   provided by the contestants on the wiki by the electoral team, and an
   eventual discussion by the members and contestants. Each member will have
   specific time to interact with the members through the setup wiki. This
   will be conducted from Tuesday, 27th March to Thursday 29th March 2012.
   8. *Open Day.* This will be on Friday, 30th and contestants will be
   allowed to post openly in our mailing list and involve members in
   discussions. A Skype chat will be chaired by the electoral team later in
   the day to try and get the contestants to interact with the members.
   9. *Election Day. *This will be on Saturday, 31st March 2012 at a time
   and venue that will be communicated by the electoral team by Wednesday,
   28th March 2012 latest 1600hours.

Note that the following were agreed upon by the team on Yesterdays meeting
as well.

   - This election will see the selection of five members of WMKE, by
   secret ballot, to the board of the Kenyan Chapter of Wikimedia by the
   voting members, and after which the selected five will decide on who will
   occupy the 5 positions defined by The Constitution.
   - The basis of determining those members eligible to contest or vote in
   this election will be based on the rules determined and agreed upon by the
   members in the meeting held at The Public Service Club on Saturday, 11th
   February 2012.
   - Voting by proxy will be available as per The Constitution. The
   electoral team will inform all members on how this will be conducted once
   we finish up on the logistics of its execution.
   - The team calls for members to come out and participate in this
   activity with utmost fairness and integrity.
   - Any queries or opinions about the election are greatly encouraged but
   the electoral team request that such be communicated privately to any/ all
   of the team members privately first. However, you are required to cc Asaf
   on such communications for the purpose of openness and fairness. We will be
   glad to try and provide solutions to any questions and challenges as we
   guide each other on undertaking this activity.

...
 From the electoral team. 
Regards,

-- 
*Chris A. Riwa*
Research Specialist and Consultant
Mobile: *+254(0)725-930-850
*e-mail:

   - *chriwaustin(a)gmail.com*
   - *otieno_chris(a)yahoo.com*
   - *chriwaustin(a)facebook.com*

Skype: *chriwaustin*
Facebook: *facebook.com/chriwaustin*