[NB: SUBJECT TO DEBATING AND COLLECTIVE EDITING]
C/O LELA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL
P.O. BOX 305 - 40101
Tel. No.: 057-21063
AHERO
OR
P.O.BOX 28658-00200 City Square
NAIROBI.
CONTACT: 0715108375/0727394224/0721125702
mailto: lemissa@alumni.com
_______________________________________
***CONSTITUTION AND RULES*****
1. NAME:
The name of the association shall be:
‘LELA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION’
[LEMISSA]
2. OBJECTIVES
To:
a) Provide counseling, guidance and mentorship to students at Lela Mixed Secondary school
b) Offer intellectual, financial and professional aid to the students and/or alumni of Lela Mixed Secondary School
c) Monitor, improve and participate in the sustenance of positive academic progress of Lela Mixed Secondary School
d) Promote welfare of members by:
i) Enhancing unity and consociation among members and the society as a whole
ii) Improving/promoting communication and interraction among members and the prevailing society (social ties).
iii) Promoting education among /of/between members and the society as a whole
e) blah blah blah
f) blah blah blah
3. MEMBERSHIP.
i) Any alumni (old boys and girls) of Lela Mixed Secondary School shall be eligible for membership of the association and shall, subject to the approval of the committee, become a member on payment of an entrance fee of Kshs $$$.
ii) Every member shall pay a monthly subscription fee of Kshs $$$ not later than ___ or ___ of every month, whichever is applicable.
iii) Any member with intent of resigning from the association shall submit his/her resignation to the secretary, which shall take effect from the date of receipt by the secretary of such notice.
iv) Any member may be expelled from membership if the committee so recommends and if a general meeting of the association shall resolve by a two-thirds majority of the members present that such a member should be expelled on the grounds that his/her conduct has adversely affected the reputation or dignity of the association, or that he/she has contravened any of the provisions of the constitution of the association. The committee shall have the power to suspend a member from his membership until the next general meeting of the association following such suspension but not withstanding such suspension a member whose expulsion is proposed shall have the right to address the general meeting at which his expulsion is to be considered.
v) Any person who resigns or is removed from membership shall not be entitled to a refund of his subscription or any part thereof or any moneys contributed by him/her at any time.
vi) Any member who falls into arrears with his monthly subscription for more than six months shall automatically cease to be a member of the association and his names shall be struck off the register of members. The committee may, However at its discretion, reinstate such member on payment of the total amount of the subscription outstanding.
4. OFFICE BEARER.
i) The office bearers of the association shall be
a) The Chairperson
b) The Vice-Chairperson
c) The Secretary General.
d) The Assistant Secretary
e)The Organizing Secretary
f) The Treasurer.
All of whom shall not have any arrears whatsoever of the association’s funds and shall be elected at the annual general meeting to be held in each year.
ii)All office bearers shall hold office from the date of election until the succeeding annual general meeting subject to the conditions contained in sub paragraphs (iii) and (iv) of this rule but shall be eligible for re-election.
iv) Any office bearer who ceases to be a member of the association shall automatically cease to be an office bearer thereof.
v) Office bearers may be removed from office in the same way as is laid down for the suspension and/or expulsion of members in rule 3(iv) and vacancies thus created shall be filled by persons elected at the general meeting resolving the expulsion.
vi) Election and/or by-election of the office-bearer(s) shall be done through a secret ballot. A winner by a simple majority shall be the holder of the contested office. Each nominee for each (national/central) seat shall be required to be proficient in Dholuo, English, and Kiswahili, in addition to having attained bona fide membership.
vi) A person elected as an office bearer –
a) may resign in writing, addressed to the Committee; and
b) the resignation referred to in 4(iv)(a) above shall take effect on the date and at the time, if any, specified in the letter; or at noon on the day after it is delivered, in any other case.
vii) At least ## of the six office-bearers shall be of female gender.
5. DUTIES OF OFFICE BEARERS.
i) Chairperson-the chairperson shall, unless prevented by illness or other sufficient cause, preside over all meetings of the committee and at all general meetings.
The Chairperson shall be mandated to ensure that rules and procedures are followed. He shall create an easy atmosphere which encourages freedom to communicate, ensuring that business for the day is carried out conclusively and in a friendly manner by being the principal peacemaker during disagreements in ideologies or otherwise. He shall guide discussion and keep order, encourage participation by all members present at the meeting, check on the timing, clarify issues and ensure that decisions reached at are clear to all. The Chairperson shall keep the association on the topic by working towards consensus. He shall encourage cohesion within the association’s meetings by using member’s official names. He shall summarize discussion from time to time if need be; whenever there is a deadlock, (a). members shall take a vote or (b). the Chair makes a ruling which is final. Cliques which might prove detrimental or otherwise to the running of the association shall be taken note of by the Chair. He shall draw conclusions on deliberations and institute adjournments.
ii) Vice-Chairperson-the vice-Chairperson shall perform the duties of the Chairperson in his/her absence.
iii) Secretary General-the secretary shall deal with all the correspondence of the association under the general supervision of the committee. In cases of urgent matters where the committee cannot be consulted, he/she shall contact the Chairperson or if he is not available, the Vice-Chairperson. The decisions reached shall be subject to ratification or otherwise at the next committee meeting. He/she shall be responsible for keeping minutes of all such meetings and for preservation of all records of proceedings of the association and of the committee.
iv)Assistant Secretary-in the absence of the secretary, the Assistant Secretary shall perform all the duties of the Secretary and such other duties as shall be assigned to him by the Secretary or committee whether the Secretary is present or not.
v) Treasurer-the treasurer shall receive and shall also disburse, under the directions of the committee, all moneys belonging to the association and shall issue receipts for all moneys received by him and preserve vouchers for all moneys paid by him. The Treasurer is responsible to the committee and to members that proper books of accounts of all moneys received and paid by the association are written up, preserved and available for inspection.
vi) Organizing Secretary-the organizing secretary shall at all times handle the following businesses for/on behalf of the association:
- Venue Reservations
- Organize any other co-curricular / social activities for the group.
- Communicate to members or any other party where applicable, dates, venues and times for group meetings and shall issue notices convening all meetings of the committee and all general meetings of the association.
- Shall be the group’s spokesperson.
- Communicate about member’s welfare any complaints from members are to be tabled to him on behalf of the group.
- He shall also be the one to listen on disputes among members and helping to arriving at a solution or refer the case to the committee.
6. THE COMMITTEE.
i) The committee shall consist of all office bearers of the association and ### other members elected at the annual general meeting in each year; such committee members shall hold office until the following annual general meeting. The committee shall meet at such times and places as it resolve but shall not meet not less than once in any three months.
ii ) All branches’ committee (if any) shall be governed by rule 6 (i). Each branch will have a committee representative in the main branch committee and these representatives shall be elected by the members of the main committee in each AGM held every year.
iii) Any casual vacancies for members of the committee caused by death or resignation shall be filled by the committee until the next annual general meeting of the association. Vacancies caused by members of the committee removed from office will be dealt with as shown in rule 3(iv).
iv) At least ### out of the ### members of the committee shall be of female gender.
7. DUTIES OF THE COMMITTEE
i) The committee shall be responsible for the management of the association and for that purpose may give directions to the office bearers as to the manner in which, within the law, they shall perform their duties. The committee shall have power to appoint such sub-committees as it may deem desirable to make reports to the committee upon which such action shall be taken as seems to the committee desirable.
ii) All moneys disbursed on behalf of the association shall be authorized by the committee except a specified in rule 12 (d).
iii) The quorum for committee meetings shall not be less than three (3) members.
8. GENERAL MEETINGS.
i) There shall be two classes of general meetings-annual general meetings and special general meetings.
ii) a) the annual general meetings (AGMs) shall be held not later than _____ each year. Notice in writing of such annual general meeting, accompanied by the annual statement of account(see rule 11(b)) and the agenda for the meeting shall be sent to all members not less than 21 days before the date of the meeting and, where practicable, by Press advertisement not less than 14 days before the date of the meeting.
b) The agenda of any annual general meeting shall consist of the following:
- Confirmation of the minutes of the previous annual general meeting (AGM).
- Consideration of the association’s accounts.
- Election of office bearers and the committee members (and trustees where necessary in accordance with rule 10.
- Appointment of auditors in accordance with rule 11(a).
- Such other matters as the committee may decide or as to which notice shall have been given in writing by a member or members to the secretary at least four weeks before the date of such meeting.
- Any other business with the approval of the Chairperson.
iv) A special general meeting may also be requisitioned for a specific purpose by order in writing to the secretary of not less than 15 members and such meetings shall be held within 21 days of the date of the requisition. The notice for such meeting shall be as shown in rule 8(iii) and no matter shall be discussed other than stated in the requisition.
v) Quorum for general meetings shall be not less than a ___ [##%] of the registered members of the association.
9. MEETINGS.
i) The association will hold regular meetings once a week/fortnight/month/quarter/year. The reporting time to these meetings will be ## pm and the meetings shall commence at ## pm.
ii) Members are expected to be present at the meeting grounds not later than ## am/pm, failure of which members are liable to be fined a sum of Kshs $$.
iii) A fee of Kshs $$$ or a decision by the committee with approval from the association's members is to be fined on members who will absent themselves from the regular meetings for a period of six consecutive seatings without reasonable apology.
iv) The association will only deem absenteeism apologies considerable for at most ## consecutive seatings which will make the member liable to a fee.(see rule 9.iii)
v) A fine will be levied against members who will absent themselves from meetings without any notification whatsoever to the committee for various durations as follows:
i) One seating-Kshs $$
ii) Two consecutive seatings -Kshs $$
iii) Three consecutive seatings –Kshs $$
iv) Procedures at meetings:
a) At all meetings of the association the Chairperson, or in his absence, the Vice-Chairperson, or in the absence of both these officers, member selected by the meeting shall chair the meeting. Such member shall not be an office bearer.
b) The Chairperson may at his discretion limit number of persons permitted to speak in favour of and against any motion.
c) Resolutions shall be decided by simple voting by a show of hands. In the case of equality of votes, the Chairperson shall have a second or casting vote.
10. TRUSTEES.
a)All land, buildings and other immovable property and all investments and securities which shall be acquired by the association shall be vested in the names of not less than ### trustees who shall be members of the association and shall be appointed at an annual general meeting for a period of ## years. On retirement, such trustees shall be eligible for re-election. A general meeting shall have the power to remove any of the trustees and all vacancies occurring by removal, resignation or death, shall be filled at the same or next general meeting.
b) The trustees shall pay all income received from property vested in the trustees to the Treasurer. Any expenditure in respect of such property which in opinion of all trustees is necessary or desirable shall be reported by the trustees to the committee which shall authorize expenditure of such money as it thinks fit.
11. AUDITOR
a) An auditor shall be appointed for the following year by the annual general meeting. All the association’s accounts, records and documents shall be opened to the inspection of the auditor at the time. The Treasurer shall produce an account of his receipts and payments and a statement of assets and liabilities made up to a date which shall not be less than six weeks and not more than three months before the date of the annual general meeting. The auditor shall examine such annual accounts and statements and either clarify that they are correct, duly vouched and in accordance with the law or report to the society in what respect they are found to be incorrect, unvouched or not in accordance with the law.
b) A copy of the auditor’s report on the accounts and statements together with such accounts and statements shall be furnished to all members at the same time as the notice convening the annual general meeting is sent out. An auditor may be paid such honorarium for his duties as may be resolved by the annual general meeting appointing him.
c) No auditor shall be an office bearer or a member of the committee of the association.
d) An auditor may be outsourced as deemed fit by the committee members with approval from the associations members.
12. FUNDS.
a) The funds of the association may only used for the following purposes-
i) Financing development projects in selected sectors as deemed fit by the association e.g. ____ , ____ , Education, Counseling, Business Appraisals e.t.c .
ii) Sponsorship/Scholarships for bright needy students at Lela Mixed Secondary School and/or within the locality (root) of the association.
iii) Financing general education prospects/projects for deserving students at Lela Mixed Secondary School, members and/or the society.
iv)Facilitating special programs and/or Emergencies e.g. In case of death ,Footing Hospital Bills for a member, and Famine/Natural Disaster relief, etc in the target society.
v) Running of official activities of the association e.g. Office stationery and Xerox services, official communication (meetings notifications, office box rentals, advertisements, mailing services) and venue reservation where applicable, e.t.c
vi)Maintenance of the Association’s assets e.g. Central Administrative Office
vii) Loaning members with the premium subjectable to an interest fee/rate as will be decided by the lending body(the committee).
Note: In Case Of Emergencies {in reference to rule 11. (a). (iv)}:
i)A special kitty shall be created to finance expenditures regarding the emergency;
ii) Each member shall be required to remit a contribution towards the special kitty; (see iii below)
iii)In case of ANY MATTER OF URGENCY, a general meeting shall be called in which it will be deliberated on how to deal with the matter and the amount to be contributed towards the emergency in question.
b) All moneys and funds shall be received by and paid to the Treasurer and shall be deposited by him in the name of the association in any bank or banks approved by the committee.
c) No payment shall be made out of the bank account without a resolution of the committee authorizing such payment and all cheques on such bank account shall be signed by the Treasurer or the Assistant Treasurer and at least ## and at most ## other office bearers of the society who shall be appointed by the committee.
d) A sum not exceeding Kshs $$$ may be kept by the Treasurer for petty disbursements of which proper account shall be kept.
e)The committee shall have the power to suspend any office bearer who it has reasonable cause to believe is not properly accounting for any funds or property of the association and shall have the power to appoint another person in his place. Such suspension shall be reported to a general meeting to be convened on a date not later than two months from the date of such suspension and the general meeting shall have full power to decide what further action should be taken in the matter.
f) The financial year of the association shall be from THIS DAY/THIS MONTH to THIS DAY/THIS MONTH.
13. BRANCHES.
Branches of the Association [IF NECESSARY] may be formed with the approval of the committee and the Registrar of Societies and they will adopt the same constitution as that of the headquarters with the following exceptions:
i) The aims and objects will not include the formation of branches.
ii) Amendments to the constitution can only be made by the headquarters of the association in accordance with provisions of rule 14.
iii) The provisions of rule 15 shall apply to branches but, in addition, branches will not be dissolved without consultation with their headquarters.
14. CONSTITUTION AMMENDMENTS.
Amendments to the constitution must be approved by at least a two-thirds majority of members at a general meeting of the society. They cannot, however, be implemented without the prior consent in writing of the Registrar, obtained upon application to him made in writing and signed by three of the office bearers.
15. DISSOLUTION.
a) The society shall not be dissolve except by a resolution passed at a general meeting of members by a vote of two-thirds of the members present. The quorum at the meeting shall be as shown in rule 8.(v).If no quorum is obtained, the proposal to dissolve the association shall be submitted to a further general meeting which shall be held one month later. Notice of this meeting shall be given to all members of the society at least 14 days before the date of the meeting .The quorum for this meeting shall be the number of members present.
b) Provided, however, that no dissolution shall be effected without prior permission in writing of the Registrar, obtained upon application to him made in writing and signed by three of the office bearers.
c) When the dissolution of the society has been approved by the Registrar, no further action shall be taken by the committee or any office bearer of the association in connection with the aims of the society other than to get it and liquidate for cash all assets of the association. Subject to the payment of all debts of the association, the balance thereof shall be distributed in such other manner as may be resolved by the meeting at which the dissolution is passed.
16. INSPECTION OF ACCOUNTS AND LIST OF MEMBERS.
The book of accounts and all documents relating thereto and a list of members of the association shall be available for inspection at the registered office of the association by any officer or member of the association on giving not less than seven days notice in writing to the association.
REF: LEMISSA/DRAFT CONSTITUTION/MARCH 2012
