CONSTITUTION OF THE
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
PENSIONERS’ASSOCIATION
ARTICLE
1 NAME
The association shall be called The Antigua and Barbuda
Pensioners’ Association ("The Association”).
ARTICLE
2 OBJECTIVE
To promote, protect and preserve the interest and welfare
of its members.
ARTICLE 3 NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE ASSOCIATION
(a) The Association shall be nonpartisan, non-
political and nonsectarian.
(b) The Association shall be comprised of all non-
established and established government pensioners, as well as those from the private sector.
(c) Notwithstanding sections 3(a) herein the
Association reserves the right to form an alliance with any organization to promote and protect its
members.
ARTICLE 4 REGISTERED OFFICE
The Registered Office of the Association shall be Clarke & Clarke Chambers,
corner of Temple and Nevis Street, St. John’s, Antigua.
ARTICLE
5 MEMBERSHIP
(a) All pensioners in the State of Antigua and Barbuda
shall be eligible for general membership.
(b) Any working individual who is nearing retirement
age shall be eligible for associate membership.
(c) Persons who have made outstanding contributions in
the work place and to the country in the social cultural and economic fields, and who are recommended
by the executive committee and approved by general membership shall be eligible for Honorary Membership.
ARTICLE 6 OFFICERS
6-1
The officers of the Association shall comprise of the following:
(a)
President, Vice-President, Secretary,
Assistant
Secretary, Treasurer.
(b) Public
Relations Officer, and three trustees.
6-2 Every such officer shall be
elected at the Annual
General Meeting provided always
that such officers must be financial for the year immediately preceding the A.G.M. to be eligible for such elections 6-3 An
executive member who is financial and has been an executive member for 1 year may be elected as the Public Relations Officer.
ARTICLE 7 DUTIES OF OFFICERS
1.
The President shall:
(a) Summon and preside at all meetings
of the
Association;
(b) Supervise the Association’s affairs and
activities, and make reports thereon to the membership at the Annual General
Meeting and other meetings called for whatever purpose.
2.
The Vice President shall:
(a) Preside at all meetings in the
absence of the President;
(b) Assist the President in the supervision of the
Association’s activities and
affairs and to
perform such other duties as may be assigned
to him by the President.
3. The Secretary shall:
(a) Send notices to all members of all meetings.
(b) Keep permanent records of minutes for each meeting.
(c) Be custodian of all official records of the Association
and receive reports of the activities of all committees and subcommittees.
4. The Assistant Secretary shall:
(a)
Perform such duties as are assigned to him
by the
Secretary.
5. The Treasurer shall:
(a) Be responsible for such sums of money as may
from time to time be paid to him by the secretary or other member and shall
forthwith deposit such sums into the Association’s bank account at the Antigua Commercial Bank.
(b) Be responsible for keeping separate accounts
for monies and contributions received.
(c) Be responsible
for keeping a separate account
of the expenses of the management
of the Association and of all contributions on account thereof.
(d)
Submit duly audited financial statements and
reports at the Annual General Meeting.
(e) Head
the Fundraising Committee.
6. The Trustees:
(a)
Shall be responsible for investing forthwith
into the
Association’s bank account aforementioned all
sums of monies received from any member.
(b) May, with the consent by resolution of a special
meeting, borrow money for the purpose of the Association upon the security of any assets of the Association
and shall have power to execute all deeds or other documents which may be required for that purpose.
7. The Public Relations Officer shall:
(a)
Be responsible for all matters related to the
Association’s
public relations with the press, radio and television and all other like organizations and societies.
ARTICLE 8 EXECUTIVE /MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
(a)
The Executive Committee shall comprise 5
officers,
namely the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Assistant Secretary.
(b)
The members of the Executive Committee shall
hold office
for one year and shall be eligible for re-election.
(c)
The Executive shall meet as often as is
necessary
to carry out the business of the Association.
(d) Any
member of the Executive Committee who is
absent from
three (3) consecutive meetings of the executive without good reason shall cease to be a member of the Executive Committee.
(e) For the purposes of subcommittees, the
President shall nominate an executive member to serve as chairperson of any
subcommittee so established.
ARTICLE 9 FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TIlE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
(a)
To be responsible for the administration of
the Association;
(b) To create subcommittees and to receive reports;
(c) To formulate
rules and regulations to control
the
affairs of the Association, and such rules and regulations shall be subject to ratification at a general meeting of the Association;
(d) To consider inductions to membership of the
Association.
ARTICLE 10 FINANCE
(a) All withdrawals from the Associations’ bank
account must be approved, authorized and signed by two (2) Executive members at all times.
(b) There shall be a registration fee, annual
subscription fee and monthly subscription fee. Such fees shall from time to time be determined by
the Executive Committee at the Annual General Meeting.
(b)
Every year, before the 31st March,
the
secretary shall send to the Registrar the annual return
showing the number of members on its roll, the amount of money invested in real security, and the amount of money in the treasurer’s
hands on the preceding 31 st December.
ARTICLE 11 INSPECTION
The
committee shall cause the books to be available for the inspection of any member or person having an interest in the funds
of the association at all reasonable hours at the registered office of the association or at any place where the books are
kept, and it shall be the duty of the secretary to produce them accordingly.
ARTICLE 12 AUDIT
1. The committee
shall at least onceevery year submit
the accounts
for audit to the prescribed person or persons at the prescribed time and shall pay the prescribed fees to such persons.
2. The prescribed person(s) shall have access to all
books and accounts of the Association and shall examine the annual return and verify it will the accounts,
vouchers, contribution cards relating thereto, and shall either sign it as found by him to be correct, duly vouched and in
accordance with law, or specially report to the Association in what respects he finds it incorrect, unvouched, or not in accordance
with law.
ARTICLE 13 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
1. The Annual General Meeting shall be held not later
than 28th February in each year.
2. The quorum for the Annual General Meeting shall be
25 members.
3. The Secretary shall give 7 days notice of the
Annual General Meeting to all members, and the agenda of that meeting shall be circulated with that
notice.
ARTICLE
14 GENERAL MEETING
1. The Association shall meet on
the last Thursday of
each month.
2. At least seven (7) days notice shall be given by
the Secretary to all members and the agenda of such meeting shall be circulated with the said notice.
3. The quorum for a general meeting shall be two (2)
executive members and ten (10) non-executive members.
ARTICLE 15 SPECIAL MEETINGS
1.
Upon the written request of fifteen (15) members a
special
meeting shall be summoned, provided that at least seven (7) days notice is given of the business to be considered at such
meeting.
2. No other business shall be dealt with at the
special meeting.
3. The quorum for a special meeting shall be four (4)
executive members and sixteen (16) non-executive members.
ARTICLE 16 PROCEDURES AND VOTING
1.
Meetings shall be conducted in accordance
with
Parliamentary procedures.
2. At all meetings the President shall have one vote,
and in the event of an impasse, the President shall have one extra casting vote.
3. At all meetings each member shall have one (1)
vote.
4.
Voting shall be by a show of hands and in no other
manner nor by no other means whatsoever.
ARTICLE
17 WITHDRAWAL
1. Any member may withdraw from membership of the Association, bt4 upon such withdrawal
he shall cease to be entitled to keep or use his membership card for any services or privileges of the Association.
ARTICLE 18 AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
1. The constitution of the Association may be amended only
by two-thirds (2/3) majority of the members voting at any general meeting called for that purpose.
2. At least fourteen (14) days notice of the proposed amendments shall be circulated to all members prior to the general
meeting called for that purpose.
ARTICLE 19 APPLICATIONS TO
THE REGISTRAR
One-fifth (1/5) of the total number of members of the
Association may apply to the Registrar for an investigation into the affairs of the Association or for winding up the same.
ARTICLE 20 WAIVER CLAUSE AND DISSOLUTION
1. At any meeting of the Association any member shall be
able to waive any provision of the constitution provided that such motion is supported by two-thirds(2/3) majority.
2. The Association shall be dissolved only
with the consent of at least three- quarter (3/4) of the votes of the members voting at a special meeting called for that
purpose.
3. In
the event of a dissolution, the Association shall make a decision as to the disposal of all funds.
ARTICLE 21 EFFECTIVE DATE
1. This constitution
was approved at the general
meeting
of the Association on 5th October, 2000 and
shall come into effect as of that date.
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