Another Constitution

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Revision as of 07:19, 10 February 2009

Section 1. (1) The head of the Republic shall be the State President.

(2) The command-in-chief of the armed forces is vested in the State President.

(3) He shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have power-
(a) with due regard to the provisions of this Act to dissolve the Senate or the House of Assembly or the Senate and the House of Assembly simultaneously;
(b) in accordance with the provisions of sections twenty and twenty-one to appoint Ministers and deputies to Ministers;
(c) to confer honors;
(d) to appoint and to accredit, to receive and to recognize ambassadors, plenipotentiaries, diplomatic representatives, and other diplomatic officers, consuls, and consular officers;
(e) with due regard to the provisions of this Act to appoint the times for the holding of sessions of Parliament and to prorogue Parliament;
(f) to pardon or reprieve offenders, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as he may deem fit, and to remit any fines, penalties, or forfeitures;
(g) to enter into and ratify international conventions, treaties, and agreements;
(h) to proclaim and terminate martial law;
(i) to declare war and make peace;
(j) to make such appointments as he may deem fit under powers conferred upon him by any law, and to exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be conferred or assigned to him under this Act or any other law.

Section 2. (1) The State President shall be elected by an electoral college consisting of the members of the Senate and the House of Assembly, at a meeting to be called in accordance with the provisions of this section and presided over by the Chief Justice of _____ or a judge of appeal designated by him.

(2) The election of a State President shall be held at a time and place to be fixed by the Speaker or (in his absence) the Secretary to the House of Assembly and made known by notice in the Gazette not less than fourteen days before such election.

(3) The date so fixed shall in respect of the first such election be a date before the thirty-first day of May, 1961, and in the case of any subsequent such election a date not less than one month and not more than three months before the termination of the period of office of the State President then holding office: Provided that if the State President dies or for any other reason vacates his office a date within three months after the office became vacant shall be so fixed.

(4) No person may be elected or serve as State President unless he is qualified to be nominated or elected and to take his seat as a member of the Senate.

(5) Any person holding any public office in respect of which he receives any renumeration or allowance out of public funds, who is elected as State President, shall vacate such office with effect from the date on which he is elected.

Section 3. (1) Nominations of candidates for election as State President shall be called for at the meeting at which the election is to take place, by the person presiding thereat.

(2) Every nomination shall be submitted in the form prescribed and shall be signed by two members of the electoral college and also by the person nominated, unless he has in writing or by telegram signified his willingness to accept nomination: Provided that in the case of the person for the time holding office as State President, nomination shall be by way of a decision such as is provided for in paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section ten.

(3) The persons duly nominated as provided in sub-section (2) shall be announced at the meeting at which the election is to take place by the person presiding thereat, and no debate shall be allowed at the election.

(4) If in respect of any election only one nomination has been received, the person presiding at the meeting shall declare the candidate in question to be duly elected.

(5) Where more than one candidate is nominated for election, a vote shall be taken by secret ballot, each member of the electoral college present at the meeting in question having one vote, and any candidate in whose favor a majority of all the votes cast is recorded, shall be declared duly elected by the person presiding at the meeting.

(6) (a) If no candidate receives a majority of all the votes so cast, the candidate who received the smallest number of votes shall be eliminated and a further ballot taken in respect of the remaining candidates, this process being repeated as often as may be necessary until a candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast and is declared duly elected.
(b) Whenever two or more candidates being the lowest on the poll have received the same number of votes, the electoral college shall by separate vote, to be repeated as often as may be necessary, determine which of those candidates shall for the purposes of paragraph (a) be eliminated.

(7) (a) Whenever-
(i) only two candidates have been nominated; or
(ii) after the elimination of one or more candidates in accordance with the provisions of this section, only two candidates remain,
and there is an equality of votes between those two candidates, a further meeting shall be called in accordance with the provisions of section two, and the provisions of this section shall apply as if such further meeting were the first meeting called for the purposes of the election in question.
(b) At the third meeting called in connection with any particular election, the person presiding at the meeting shall in the event of an equality of votes between any two candidates under the circumstances described in paragraph (a), have and exercise a casting vote.

(8) (a) The Speaker of the House of Assembly shall make rules in regard to the procedure to be observed at a meeting of the electoral college, including rules prescribing the form in which any nomination shall be submitted, and rules defining the duties of the presiding officer and of any person appointed to assist him and prescribing the manner in which the ballot at any such meeting shall be conducted.
(b) Any such rules shall be made known in such manner as the Speaker of the House of Assembly may consider necessary.

Section 4. (1) (a) The State President shall hold office for a period of seven years from the date upon which he takes the oath prescribed in section six, and shall not on termination of his period of office be eligible for re-election, unless it is expressly otherwise decided by the electoral college.
(b) He shall cease to hold office on a resolution passed by the Senate and by the House of Assembly during the same session declaring him to be removed from office on the ground of misconduct or inability to perform efficiently the duties of his office.

(2) (a) No resolution shall be taken under paragraph (b) of sub-section (1), except after consideration of a report of a joint committee of the Senate and the House of Assembly appointed in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Assembly which has been concurred in by the Senate.
(b) The House of Assembly shall not adopt a resolution that such a committee be appointed, unless there has previously been submitted to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a petition signed by not less than thirty members of the House of Assembly and requesting that such a committee be appointed.
(c) In connection with any resolution contemplated in paragraph (b) no debate shall be allowed either in the Senate or in the House of Assembly.

(3) The State President may resign by lodging his resignation in writing with the Speaker of the House of Assembly, who shall forthwith advise the Prime Minister of such resignation.

(4) The State President shall not be absent from the Republic except with the prior consent of the Executive Council.

Section 5. Whenever the office of State President is vacant or the State President is for any reason unable to perform the duties of his office, the President of the Senate shall serve as Acting State President, and, if the office of President of the Senate is vacant or the holder of that office is unable to act, the Speaker of the House of Assembly or, if his office is vacant or he is unable to act, a person appointed by the Executive Council shall serve as Acting State President.

Section 6. The State President and any Acting State President shall before assuming office make and subscribe an oath of office in the following form before the Chief Justice of _____ or a Judge of the Supreme Court of _____:

"In the presence of Almighty God and in the full realization of the high calling I assume as State President/Acting State President in the service of my people, I, A.B., do swear to be faithful to the Republic of _____ and do solemnly and sincerely promise at all times to promote that which will advance it, to oppose all that may harm it, and to dedicate myself to the welfare of its inhabitants, to obey, observe, uphold, and maintain the Constitution and all other Law of the Republic, to discharge my duties with all my strength and talents to the best of my knowledge and ability and true to the dictates of my conscience, to do justice unto all and to devote myself to the well-being of my people.
May the Almighty by His grace guide and sustain me in keeping this oath with honor and dignity.
So help me God."

Section 7. Any person who commits any act which is calculated to violate the dignity or injure the reputation of the State President or an Acting State President, shall be guilty of an offense and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.

Section 8. (1) There shall be paid to the State President out of and as a charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, in addition to any allowances appropriated from time to time by Parliament, and apart from any privileges which he may enjoy, a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum.
(2) The salary of the State President shall not be reduced during his term of office.

Section 9. (1) There shall be paid out of and as a charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund-
(a) to any person who at any time has occupied the office of State President, a pension at the rate of six thousand dollars per annum;
(b) to the widow of any such person, unless her marriage to him took place after the date on which he vacated office, a pension at the rate of two-thirds of the rate of the pension payable to such person.

(2) Any pension under sub-section (1) shall be payable-
(a) in the case of the State President with effect from the day following that upon which he vacated office;
(b) in the case of his widow, with effect from the day following that upon which she became a widow.