Dafuq

From Roach Busters

Revision as of 03:25, 4 July 2012

CHAPTER I

PART I
THE LEGISLATURE

Legislative power

1. The legislative power of the Confederate States shall be vested in the Legislature which shall consist of the President and the Parliament.

The Parliament

2. The Parliament of _____ shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.

PART II
THE SENATE

Constitution of Senate

3. (1) The Senate shall be composed of six senators for each State, elected by the sitting members of the Legislative Assembly for that State.

(2) The election of senators shall take place according to the principle of proportional representation, each voter having one transferable vote.

(3) The senators shall be chosen for a term of six years, and the names of the senators chosen for each State shall be certified by the Governor to the President.

Failure to choose senators

4. The Senate may proceed to the dispatch of business, notwithstanding the failure of any State to provide for its representation in the Senate.

Rotation of senators

5. (1) As soon as may be after the Senate first meets, and after each first meeting of the Senate following a dissolution thereof, the Senate shall by lot divide the senators into three classes; and the term of office of the senators of the first class shall terminate at the expiry of a period of two years, the term of office of the senators of the second class shall terminate at the expiry of a period of four years, and the term of office of the senators of the third class shall terminate at the expiry of a period of six years, from the date of election; and afterwards the places of senators shall become vacant at the expiration of six years from the beginning of their term of service.

(2) The election to fill vacant places shall be made within one year before the places are to become vacant.

(3) For the purposes of this section the term of service of a senator shall be taken to begin on the first day of July following the day of his election, except in the cases of the first election and of the election next after any dissolution of the Senate, when it shall be taken to begin on the first day of July preceding the day of his election.

Casual vacancies

6. (1) If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of service, the Legislative Assembly of the State for which he was chosen, shall choose a person to hold the place until the expiration of the term. But if the Legislative Assembly of the State is not in session when the vacancy is notified, the Governor of the State, with the advice of the Executive Council thereof, may appoint a person to hold the place until the expiration of fourteen days from the beginning of the next session of the Legislative Assembly of the State or the expiration of the term, whichever first happens.

(2) The name of any senator chosen or appointed under this section shall be certified by the Governor of the State to the President.

Qualifications of senator

7. No person shall be qualified to be a member of the Senate under this Constitution unless —

(a) he is a citizen of _____;

(b) he has attained the age of 30 years;

(c) he is qualified for registration as a voter for the purposes of the election of members of the House of Representatives and is so registered;

(d) he is not subject to any of the disqualifications specified in section _____;

(e) he is able to speak, and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read English well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of the Senate; and

(f) he has been domiciled in _____ for a period of at least five years.

Election of President of the Senate

7. (1) The Senate shall, before proceeding to the dispatch of any other business, elect a senator, not being a Minister or a Deputy Minister, to be the President of the Senate, and, whenever the office of the President of the Senate becomes vacant the Senate shall not transact any other business until a person to fill that office has been elected.

(2) The President of the Senate shall be elected in accordance with the Standing Orders.

(3) The President of the Senate may at any time resign his office either by announcing his resignation in person to the Senate or by notice in writing to the Secretary to Parliament.

(4) The President of the Senate shall vacate his office ―

(a) upon his death; or

(b) on the dissolution of Parliament next following his election; or

(c) if he becomes a Minister or a Deputy Minister; or

(d) if he is elected as a member of the House of Representatives;

(e) if he ceases to be a member of the Senate; or

(f) if he is required by virtue of the provisions of section twenty-nine or thirty to cease to exercise any of his functions as a member of the Senate.

(5) The office of the President of the Senate shall become vacant if the Senate, by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the Senate, resolves that the office of the President of the Senate shall become vacant.

(6) Any function of the President of the Senate which is required to be performed on the polling day after a dissolution of Parliament or between that day and the day when the Senate first meets thereafter shall be performed by the person who was the President of the Senate immediately before that polling day:

Provided that if at any time after the dissolution of Parliament the person who was the President of the Senate immediately before such dissolution relinquishes the functions of that office by notice in writing to the President or is for any reason unable to perform them, those functions shall be performed by the Secretary to Parliament or by some other person appointed by the President in that behalf.

Deputy President of the Senate

8. (1) After a general election and as soon as practicable after the election of the President of the Senate in terms of section seven the Senate shall elect a senator, not being a Minister or a Deputy Minister, to be the Deputy President of the Senate and to be chairman when the Senate is in Committee and, whenever the office of the Deputy President of the Senate becomes vacant otherwise than by a dissolution of Parliament, the Senate shall as soon as convenient elect another such senator to that office.

(2) The Deputy President of the Senate shall be elected in accordance with the Standing Orders.

(3) The Deputy President of the Senate may at any time resign his office by notice in writing to the Secretary to Parliament and shall vacate his office ―

(a) if he ceases to be a senator; or

(b) if he is required by virtue of the provisions of section twenty-nine or thirty to cease to exercise any of his functions as a member of the Senate; or

(c) if he becomes a Minister or a Deputy Minister.

Vacancy to be notified

9. Whenever a vacancy happens in the Senate, the President of the Senate, or if there is no President of the Senate or if the President of the Senate is absent from _____ the President, shall notify the same to the Governor of the State in the representation of which the vacancy has happened.

Voting in Senate

10. Questions arising in the Senate shall be determined by a majority of votes, and each senator shall have one vote. The President of the Senate or the presiding senator shall in all cases be entitled to a vote; and when the votes are equal the question shall pass in the negative.

PART III
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Constitution of House of Representatives

11. The House of Representatives shall be composed of one hundred and fifty members, each of whom shall be directly elected by the persons entitled to vote at an election of such a member in an electoral division delimited as provided in section thirteen.

Elections

12. (1) A general election of members of the House of Representatives shall be held on such day within a period not exceeding four months after the issue of a proclamation dissolving Parliament as the President may in that proclamation fix.

(2) At any general election of members of the House of Representatives under this Constitution, all polls shall be taken on one and the same day in all the electoral divisions throughout _____.

Delimitation of electoral divisions

13. (1) At intervals of not less than five years and not more than ten years, the President shall appoint a delimitation commission consisting of three judges of the Supreme Court of _____, which shall divide each State into so many electoral divisions that their number bears, as nearly as possible, the same ratio to one hundred and fifty as, in terms of the current voters’ lists, duly corrected up to the latest possible date, the number of voters in that State bears to the total number of voters in _____.

(2) In dividing a State into electoral divisions in terms of subsection (1) the said commission shall act in accordance with the provisions of section fourteen.

Method of dividing States into electoral divisions

14. (1) For the purposes of any division of the States into electoral divisions, the quota of each State shall be obtained by dividing the total number of voters in the State as ascertained from an examination of the current voters’ lists by the number of members of the House of Representatives to be elected therein.

(2) Each State shall be divided into electoral divisions in such a manner that each such division shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3), contain a number of voters as nearly as may be equal to the quota of the State.

(3) The delimitation commission shall give due consideration to ―

(a) community or diversity of interests;

(b) means of communication;

(c) physical features;

(d) boundaries of existing electoral divisions;

(e) sparsity or density of population,

in such manner that, while taking the quota of voters as the basis of division, the commission may depart therefrom whenever it is deemed necessary, but in no case to any greater extent than fifteen per cent more or fifteen per cent less than the quota.

Powers and duties of commission for delimiting electoral divisions

15. (1) A commission constituted under the provisions of section thirteen shall submit to the President ―

(a) a list of electoral divisions, with the names given to them by the commission and a description of the boundaries of every such division;

(b) a map or maps showing the electoral divisions into which the States have been divided;

(c) such further particulars as it considers necessary.

(2) The President may refer to the commission for its consideration all matters relating to such list or arising out of the powers or duties of the commission.

(3) The President shall by proclamation in the Gazette make known the names and boundaries of the electoral divisions as finally settled and certified by the commission, or a majority thereof, and thereafter, until there shall be a re-division, the electoral divisions as named and defined shall be the electoral divisions of _____ in the States.

(4) If any discrepancy arises between the description of the divisions and the aforesaid map or maps, the description shall prevail.

Date from which alteration of electoral divisions takes effect

16. Any alteration in the number of members of the House of Representatives to be elected in the several States, and any re-division of the provinces into electoral divisions, shall, in respect of the election of members of the House of Representatives, come into operation at the next general election held after the completion of the re-division or of any allocation consequent upon such alteration, and not earlier.

Duration of House of Representatives

17. Every House of Representatives shall continue for five years from the first meeting of the House of Representatives, and no longer, but may be sooner dissolved by the President.

Writs for general election

18. (1) The President may cause writs to be issued for general elections of members of the House of Representatives.

(2) After the first general election, the writs shall be issued within ten days from the expiry of a House of Representatives or from the proclamation of a dissolution thereof.

Writs for vacancies

19. Whenever a vacancy happens in the House of Representatives, the Speaker shall issue his writ for the election of a new member, or if there is no Speaker or if he is absent from _____ the President may issue the writ.

Qualifications of members

20. No person shall be qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives under this Constitution unless —

(a) he is a citizen of _____;

(b) he has attained the age of 25 years;

(c) he is qualified for registration as a voter for the purposes of the election of members of the House of Representatives and is so registered;

(d) he is not subject to any of the disqualifications specified in section twenty-nine;

(e) he is able to speak, and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read English well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of the House of Representatives; and

(f) he has been domiciled in _____ for a period of at least five years.

Election of Speaker

21. (1) The House of Representatives shall, before proceeding to the dispatch of any other business, elect a member of the House of Representatives, not being a Minister or a Deputy Minister, to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and, whenever the office of the Speaker becomes vacant the House of Representatives shall not transact any other business until a person to fill that office has been elected.

(2) The Speaker shall be elected in accordance with the Standing Orders.

(3) The Speaker may at any time resign his office either by announcing his resignation in person to the House of Representatives or by notice in writing to the Secretary to Parliament.

(4) The Speaker shall vacate his office ―

(a) upon his death; or

(b) on the dissolution of Parliament next following his election; or

(c) if he becomes a Minister or a Deputy Minister; or

(d) if he is elected as a member of the Senate;

(e) if he ceases to be a member of the House of Representatives; or

(f) if he is required by virtue of the provisions of section twenty-nine or thirty to cease to exercise any of his functions as a member of the House of Representatives.

(5) The office of the Speaker shall become vacant if the House of Representatives, by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the House of Representatives, resolves that the office of the Speaker shall become vacant.

(6) Any function of the Speaker which is required to be performed on the polling day after a dissolution of Parliament or between that day and the day when the House of Representatives first meets thereafter shall be performed by the person who was the Speaker immediately before that polling day:

Provided that if at any time after the dissolution of Parliament the person who was the Speaker immediately before such dissolution relinquishes the functions of that office by notice in writing to the President or is for any reason unable to perform them, those functions shall be performed by the Secretary to Parliament or by some other person appointed by the President in that behalf.

Deputy Speaker

22. (1) After a general election and as soon as practicable after the election of the Speaker in terms of section twenty-one the House of Representatives shall elect a member of the House of Representatives, not being a Minister or a Deputy Minister, to be the Deputy Speaker and to be chairman when the House of Representatives is in Committee and, whenever the office of the Deputy Speaker becomes vacant otherwise than by a dissolution of Parliament, the House of Representatives shall as soon as convenient elect another such senator to that office.

(2) The Deputy Speaker shall be elected in accordance with the Standing Orders.

(3) The Deputy Speaker may at any time resign his office by notice in writing to the Secretary to Parliament and shall vacate his office ―

(a) if he ceases to be a member of the House of Representatives; or

(b) if he is required by virtue of the provisions of section twenty-nine or thirty to cease to exercise any of his functions as a member of the House of Representatives; or

(c) if he becomes a Minister or a Deputy Minister.

Voting in House of Representatives

23. All questions in the House of Representatives shall be determined by a majority of votes of members present other than the Speaker or the presiding member, who shall, however, have and exercise a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.

PART IV
SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Remuneration of President of Senate and Speaker

24. (1) There shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker such salaries as may be prescribed from time to time by a law of the Legislature and such allowances as may be prescribed by or under such law.

(2) The salary of the President of the Senate or of the Speaker shall not be reduced during his continuance in office.

(3) A person who was the President of the Senate or the Speaker immediately before a dissolution of Parliament shall continue to receive the salary and allowances of the President of the Senate or the Speaker, as the case may be, until such time as the Senate or the House of Representatives, respectively, first meets after the dissolution or until he ceases sooner to perform the functions of ―

(a) the President of the Senate in the circumstances referred to in subsection (6) of section seven; or

(b) the Speaker in the circumstances referred to in subsection (6) of section twenty-one;

as the case may be.

Powers of Ministers and Deputy Ministers in Senate and House of Representatives

25. A Minister or Deputy Minister who is a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives shall have the right to sit and speak both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives but shall vote only in the house of which he is a member.

Vacating of seats by members

26. (1) A member of the Senate who is elected as a member of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat as a senator with effect from the date on which he becomes a member of the House of Representatives.

(2) A member of the House of Representatives who is elected as a senator shall vacate his seat as a member of the House of Representatives with effect from the day on which he becomes a member of the Senate.

Tenure of seat of members of Senate or House of Representatives

27. (1) The seat of a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives shall become vacant —

(a) upon his death; or

(b) on the dissolution of Parliament next following his election; or

(c) if he resigns his seat by notice in writing to the President of the Senate or the Speaker, as the case may be, or, in the case of the death, incapacity or absence from _____ of the President of the Senate or the Speaker, to the Secretary to Parliament;

(d) if he is absent from twenty-one consecutive sittings during any session without the leave of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, and the Senate or the House of Representatives has resolved by a majority of the total membership of the Senate or the House of Representatives that the seat shall become vacant; or

(e) if he accepts any public office; or

(f) if he ceases to be qualified for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be; or

(g) if he becomes subject to any of the disabilities mentioned in section twenty-eight; or

(h) in the circumstances set out in section twenty-nine; or

(i) if he is required, by virtue of the provisions of section thirty, to vacate his seat.

(2) The resignation of a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives shall not become effective to render the seat of that member vacant under the provisions of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) in any case in which —

(a) proceedings are pending in respect of that member's election, if it is alleged that illegal or corrupt practices took place at such election; or

(b) proceedings in the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, are contemplated or pending in respect of that member's conduct in or as a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives;

unless the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, by resolution accepts the resignation.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (e) of subsection (1), a person shall not be deemed to have accepted a public office by reason of —

(a) accepting appointment as a Minister or a Deputy Minister; or

(b) holding any office for which no renumeration is paid other than payment by way of traveling or subsistence allowances or out-of-pocket expenses.

Disqualifications from being a member of Senate or House of Representatives

28. (1) No person shall be capable of being elected or of sitting as a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, if he —

(a) has voluntarily acquired citizenship of a country other than _____ or has made a declaration of allegiance to such a country; or

(b) is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind by a competent court; or

(c) is an undischarged bankrupt, having been adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in any part of _____.

Members sentenced to death or to imprisonment

29. (1) In the event of a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives being convicted —

(a) within _____ of a criminal offense; or

(b) outside _____ of an offense, by whatever name called, which if committed in _____ would have been a criminal offense;

and being sentenced by a court to death or imprisonment, by whatever name called, for a term of six months or more, such member shall cease forthwith to exercise his functions or to be entitled to any renumeration as a member and, subject to the other provisions of this section, his seat shall become vacant at the expiration of thirty days from the date of such sentence.

(2) When during the period of thirty days referred to in subsection (1), an application for a free pardon is made or an appeal is filed, the question whether the member is to vacate his seat shall not be determined until the final disposal of such application or appeal, whereupon the member shall forthwith vacate his seat unless —

(a) he is granted a free pardon; or

(b) his conviction is set aside; or

(c) his sentence is reduced to a term of imprisonment of less than six months; or

(d) a punishment other than imprisonment is substituted.

(3) Where as a consequence of the final disposal of the application or appeal of the member, his conviction or sentence is varied in any manner specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (2), the member shall not vacate his seat, unless he has previously resigned, but shall be entitled to resume his functions as a member and to receive renumeration as such for the period during which he ceased to exercise his functions as a member by reason of the other provisions of this section.

(4) For the purposes of this section —

(a) two or more sentences of imprisonment that are required to be served consecutively shall be regarded as a single term of imprisonment for the aggregate period of those terms;

(b) two or more sentences of imprisonment that are required to be served concurrently shall be regarded as a single term of imprisonment for the period of the longest of such terms;

(c) a person shall be regarded as sentenced notwithstanding that the execution of the sentence or any part thereof has been suspended;

(d) no account shall be taken of any sentence of imprisonment imposed as an alternative to, or in default of, the payment of a fine.

Expulsion or suspension of members convicted of certain offenses

30. (1) If —

(a) a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives is convicted of an offense described in subsection (1) of section twenty-nine and is sentenced to imprisonment for a lesser period than that specified in that subsection or to a fine or other punishment not specified in that subsection; and

(b) the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, after taking into account the nature of the offense and the sentence imposed, resolves by the affirmative votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership that the member is unfit to continue as a member or that the member should be suspended from the service of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, for such period, not exceeding six months, as the Senate or the House of Representatives may specify;

the member shall forthwith vacate his seat or, as the case may be, be suspended from the service of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, for the period so specified.

(2) A member of the Senate or the House of Representatives who is suspended from the service of the Senate or the House of Representatives in terms of subsection (1) shall not exercise his functions and shall not be entitled to any renumeration as a member during the period of his suspension.

Penalty for sitting or voting when disqualified

31. If any person who is by law incapable of sitting as a Senator or member of the House of Representatives shall, while so disqualified and knowing or having reasonable grounds for knowing that he is so disqualified, sit or vote as a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, he shall be liable to a penalty of five hundred dollars for each day on which he shall so sit or vote, to be recovered on behalf of the Consolidated Revenue Fund by action of the Supreme Court.

Validity of proceedings

32. Subject to the provisions of section _____, the Senate or the House of Representatives shall not be disqualified for the transaction of business by reason of any vacancy among the members thereof, including any vacancy not filled when the Senate or the House of Representatives is reconstituted at any time or when a member is suspended in terms of section twenty-nine or thirty and any proceedings therein shall be valid notwithstanding that some person who was not entitled so to do sat or voted in the Senate or the House of Representatives or otherwise took part in the proceedings.

PART V
GENERAL POWERS AND PROCEDURE

Power to make laws

33. (1) The Legislature shall be the sovereign legislative power in and over _____.

(2) The Legislature shall have power to make laws, to be entitled “Acts”, for the peace, order and good government of the Federation with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List.

(3) The power of the Legislature to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List shall, save as otherwise provided in this Constitution, be to the exclusion of the Legislative Assemblies of States.

(4) In addition and without prejudice to the powers conferred by subsection (2) of this section, the Legislature shall have power to make laws with respect to the following matters, that is to say —

(a) any matter in the Concurrent Legislative List; and

(b) any other matter with respect to which it is empowered to make laws in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

Standing Orders

34. Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Senate and the House of Representatives may, jointly or severally as may be appropriate, make Standing Orders with respect to —

(a) the passing, instituting, and numbering of Bills;

(b) the notification to the President of any vacancy in the membership of the Senate or the House of Representatives;

(c) any manner in connection with which Standing Orders may be made in terms of this Constitution;

and, generally, with respect to the regulation and orderly conduct of proceedings and business in and between the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Declaration of assets and liabilities; oath of members

35. Every member of the Senate or the House of Representatives shall, before taking his seat, declare his assets and liabilities as prescribed in this Constitution and subsequently take and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of membership as prescribed in the Seventh Schedule to this Constitution before the President of the Senate or, as the case may be, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, but a member may before taking the oaths take part in the election of a Deputy President of the Senate, as the case may be, or a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Presiding in Parliament

36. (1) The President of the Senate or, when he is unable to act, a senator, not being a Minister or a Deputy Minister, elected or appointed in accordance with the Standing Orders, shall preside over the deliberations of the Senate.

(2) The Speaker or, when he is unable to act, a member of the House of Representatives, not being a Minister or a Deputy Minister, elected or appointed in accordance with the Standing Orders, shall preside over the deliberations of the House of Representatives.

Powers, privileges, etc., of the houses of Parliament and of the members and committees thereof

37. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution and to the rules and Standing Orders regulating the procedure of Parliament, there shall be freedom of speech in Parliament.

(2) No member of Parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or any committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of either house of Parliament of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.

(3) In other respects, the powers, privileges and immunities of each house of Parliament, and of the members and the committees of each house, shall be such as may be prescribed from time to time by a law of the Legislature.

(4) The provisions of subsections (1), (2) and (3) shall apply in relation to persons who by virtue of this Constitution have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of, a house of Parliament or any committee thereof as they apply in relation to members of Parliament.

Salaries and allowances of members

38. Members of either house of Parliament shall be entitled to receive such salaries and allowances as may be prescribed from time to time by a law of the Legislature.

Secretary to Parliament and other staff of Parliament

39. (1) There shall be a Secretary to Parliament appointed by the Speaker after consulting the President of the Senate and subject to the approval of the House of Representatives.

(2) A person appointed as the Secretary to Parliament shall not be removable from office except in pursuance of a resolution by the House of Representatives.

(3) The salary of the Secretary to Parliament shall not be reduced during his continuance in office.

(4) Subject to any wishes which may be expressed from time to time by the House of Representatives, the Speaker shall, after consulting the President of the Senate, appoint such number of other staff of Parliament as the Speaker may from time to time consider necessary.

(5) The staff of Parliament shall be appointed on terms of service approved from time to time by the House of Representatives and shall be deemed to be public officers but shall not form part of the civil service of the Government of _____.

President and other persons may address Parliament

40. (1) The President may at any time —

(a) attend and address the Senate or the House of Representatives; or

(b) call a joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives and attend and address such joint meeting.

(2) The President may send messages to the Senate or the House of Representatives and any such message shall be read by a Minister designated by the President at the first convenient sitting of the the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, after it is received.

(3) The Senate and the House of Representatives may, either jointly or severally, pursuant to a resolution, invite any person to address the Senate or the Representatives or, as the case may be, a joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

PART VI
PROCEDURE IN REGARD TO BILLS

Introduction of Bills, motions and petitions