Our Constitution

FOSA 2005 Group Constitution


ARTICLE 1: THE SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION
  • (1) This Constitution shall be the supreme law guiding the affairs of the group andshall be supreme to any law, rule or convention except a provision in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, or an enactment passed by the Parliament of Ghana or an Order or a directive of Court in Ghana.
  • (2) All members shall abide by the provisions of this Constitution and shall duly obey and carry out the terms or an order or a directive made under this Constitution.
  • (3) Failure to carry out any term of this Constitution or an order or a directive made in accordance with this Constitution shall be deemed to be an 'offence' under this Constitution.
    • (a) A 'failure to carry out any term of this Constitution or an order or a directive made in accordance with this Constitution' shall include an action or inaction.
  • (4) An offence under clause (3) shall, primia facie, constitute a ground for removal of office if the 'wrongdoer' is an executive member and shall constitute a ground for expulsion in case of a member.
  • (5) Notwithstanding the provisions under clause (3), an offence under clause (3) should be determined at law and as of fact by a 3-member-special quasi-Judicial body, whose composition shall be determined by the whole groupe.
  • (6) A member who is found to be have contravened any provision of this Constitution by the quasi-Judicial body shall be expelled or be made to suffer a 'heavy' fine which would be determined by the Executive Committee.
  • (7) An executive member shall be removed from office if the quasi-Judicial body makes an aversive finding against him and no remedy shall be deemed preferable than removal of office.

ARTICLE 2: NAME

The official name of the Association or Union shall be the 'FOSA 2005 GROUPE', hereinafter referred to as the '2005 Groupe or Batch'.

  • (a) 'FOSA 2005 GROUPE' shall be on all official correspondence including printouts.

ARTICLE 3: MANDATE

The group’s mandate will be as follows:
A. Mission
The association exists to provide exciting experiences and unique opportunities for members and eventually participate in community building. The association will strive to bring members together and unite them under the common objective of bonding, supporting each other socially, and ultimately undertaking business investment initiatives for the collective gain of interested parties.

B. Vision:
To create unity amongst members and eventually go into profit making business to create a fun as well as a professional environment and do a specific project for the school after 20yrs of leaving Fijai. To create unity amongst members and eventually go into profit making business to create a fun as well as a professional environment and do a specific project for the school after 20yrs of leaving Fijai.

ARTICLE 3: MEMBERSHIP

(1) Membership of the Association shall be opened to the following irrespective of nationality, political affiliation, religious creed or belief:

  • (a) Old students who went through Fijai Senior High School with the 2005 year group.
  • (b) Anyone who subscribe to the Mission and Visons of the Association and whose application for membership are accepted by the Executive Committee

(2) An individual who obtains membership by virtue of clause 1:

  • (a) shall be called a First Class or an Individual Member and shall be entitled to all benefits of the groupe including the right to vote at meetings or stand to be voted for regarding any executive position.
  • (b) A person who obtain a membership under 1 (b) shall be called a Second Class or Associate Member and shall qualify for all benefits except the right to vote at meetings or stand for executive positions.
ARTICLE 4: TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP
  • (1) The association shall be joined freely by anyone who completed Fijai Secondary School in 2005. But an individual who did not complete Fijai Secondary School in 2005 and still wants to join the association will fill form “A” to inform the Executive committee members of his/her personal information. The completed form must be signed, indicating that the interested member agrees to the terms and conditions of joining the association and an announcement should be made to the whole association not more than 15 days.
    • (a) The Secretary shall keep records of all Individual and Associate Members of the Groupe including their personal contact numbers and House addresses.
  • (2) Members will be required to make a monthly contribution of GHC10.00 to be saved in an account where the President, the Vice President, and the Financial Coordinator are signatories. The monthly dues are subject to review every year.
    • (a) Special Contributions shall also be made to support welfare of members or meet any emergency situation depending on the financial position of the groupe
  • (3) In case of default after 3 months, a member shall be warned to make payment of all the outstanding dues with no entitlements after three months.
    • (a) A member shall no more be considered as part of the group after he/she has defaulted for 12 whole months.
    • (b) The member will continue to be in the groupe if only he/she pays the amount owed plus a 20% penalty of the defaulted amount.
  • (4) Members of the groupe will start contributing to the funds from January, 2016. The funds will be left to mature for three (3) months and the benefits will be enjoyed by each member after a YEAR.
  • (5) General Meetings for members shall be arranged every three months. And the agenda shall be made known to the whole membership at last 3 clear days before the meeting.
    • (i) Executive members will be meeting on monthly basis.
  • (6) All other information relating to the Associations activities will be communicated via the association's WHATSAPP and occasionally, FACEBOOK pages.
  • (7) Members shall be seen to be discipline and responsible with their comments at meetings and on the group's WHATSAPP page.
  • (8) A member can suffer a punishment by way of a fine if a report is made against him and majority of member find his action to be offence to the integrity and status of the group. Nothing in this proviso shall prevent a member from expressing his opinion no matter how insane it may appear to someone.
ARTICLE 5: THE EXECUTIVE BODY

The EXECUTIVES of the association shall consist of the following;

  • (a) The President, the Vice President, the Secretary, the Organizer, the Financial Secretary, the Treasure and Three (3) Welfare Coordinator.
  • (b) They shall constitutive a nine member executive committee. And except as provided otherwise in this Constitution the policy and general management of the affairs of the Association shall be directed by this committee which shall meet at least once in a month.
  • (c) The executive committee shall co-opt at least 2 members and not more than 5 members to help them with their functions as stated by this constitution. The coopted members shall have voting right at executive committee meetings.
  • (2) All the executive committee members shall be elected at a General Meeting by majority of member.
  • (3) The tenure of the office of the Executives shall be 2yrs beginning from January AND ENDING IN DECEMBER of the 2 year term.
    • (i) A person shall not qualify to stand for election of the same position for more than five terms or for more than 10 years.
  • (4) Any member of the committee who fails to attend 5 consecutive Committee meetings without reasonable excuse shall lose his/her place on the committee which may be filled by any of the co-opted members as agreed to by other members of the committee.
  • (5) The proceedings of the executive committee shall not be invalidated by any failure to elect or any defect in the election, appointment or cooption of any member.

THE PRESIDENT

The President of the association shall call and chair all meetings of the association including executive committee meetings and shall also be the face of the association.

  • (b) The President shall take precedence over all other person in the Associate and shall not be put out of order in any meeting.
  • (c) The President in consultation with the executive committee may establish any special or sub-committee to be in charge of an ad-hoc function.

The VICE PRESIDENT

There shall be a Vice President who shall act in the absence of the President in all schemes of affairs.

  • (a) The Vice President shall chair the committee which is in charge of organizing homecoming and any other function assigned him/her by the President.
  • (b) The Vice President shall also be the head of a special committee in charge of women affairs.

The SECRETARY

There shall be a secretary who shall act in the absence of the President and the Vice President in all schemes of affairs.

  • (a) The Secretary shall also be the chief ‘scriber’ of the Association and shall receive and make correspondence on behalf of the Association
  • (b) The Secretary shall also keep records of all the minutes of the Association and keep a record of each member of the association as provided for under this constitution.

The Organizer

The Association shall also have an Organizer who would be responsible for bringing all the members together for the purposes of a general meeting or any special function the Association decides to embark on.

  • (a) The Organizer shall act in the absence of the President, the Vice or the Secretary in all affairs of the group.
  • (b) At least once a year, the organizer with the approval from the President should organize one get-together for the Association.

The Financial Secretary

The financial Secretary shall keep records of all the financial transactions of the Association and shall be responsible for submitting an annual financial statement to be approved by the whole Association including the function of chief disbursing officer.

The Treasurer

The treasurer shall keep all the money of the association and assist the financial secretary in the performance of his/her duties.

Welfare Coordinator(s)

The Association shall have 3 welfare coordinators who shall be responsible for seeing to the general welfare of the members including the attendance of social functions involving members.

  • (a) The welfare coordinators shall be composed of at least two women and shall determine which member should qualify for welfare benefits
  • (b) There shall be main coordinator and two members and they can co-opt as many as 4 members to form the Welfare Committee.
ARTICLE 6: DECISION MAKING

All decisions or actions taken by the committee shall be implemented only if 50%+ 1 of the members agree to it in a vote including election. This also applies to instances where dissolution of the executive body is warranted following a vote of no confidence by majority representation. A special Electoral body of 2 persons shall be constituted to see to the elections.

ARTICLE 7: RULES OF PROCEDURE AT ALL MEETINGS

Voting
Subject to Article 6, hereof all questions arising at any meeting shall be decided by a simple majority of those present and entitled to vote thereat. In case of an equality of votes, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

Minutes
A Minute book (s) shall be kept by the Association and the Executive Secretary or any appropriate sub-committee secretary shall enter therein, a record of all proceedings and resolutions.

Quorum
The quorum for a general meeting should be 10 members but it can be determined as and when the President see fit.

Standing Orders
The executive committee shall have the power to adopt and issue standing orders and/or rules or code of conducts for the regulation of meetings. Those rules shall be subject to approval in accordance with Article 6.

ARTICLE 8: BENEFITS AND PACKAGES

Members of the committee shall be entitled to benefits under these sections. These are subject to annual review.

Benefits

A. Marriage
Members shall be entitled to a cash package of GHC 300.00 on the occasion of marrying a maximum of one (1) spouse.

B. Birth
Members shall be entitled to a cash package of GHC 200.00 on the occasion of bringing forth a child to a maximum of 3.

C. Funeral
i. Members shall be entitled to a cash package of GHC 300.00 on the occasion of a close relative being deceased. The close relative includes;

  • • Spouse (Max 1)
  • • Children (Max 3)
  • • Siblings (Max 3)
  • • Parent/ Guardians (Max 2)

ii. However if a member of the groupe is deceased, the committee shall show their condolences to his or her family with a cash package of GHC 500.00.

Packages

A. In the instance when the committee is dissolved, the total contribution shall be shared according to the percentage of total contribution made by each member.

B. Yearly gathering
At the end of every year the committee shall consider its funds and deliberate on what gathering to come up with for socialization.

C. Special assistance
All special assistance especially medical issues will be reviewed by the welfare committee to suggest an appropriate assistance that can be provided.

ARTICLE 8: MANAGEMENT OF FUNDS

The committee shall invest 50% of all contributions received in an appropriate fund decided by majority of members at the end of every three (3) months. The other 50% shall remain in the welfare account to run it and also to disburse benefits.

The committee shall give accounts of how funds were managed to members every three months. The account will be opened with a bank with the President, Administrator and Financial Coordinator as signatories of whom any two can sign to withdraw funds from the account

Prepared by: ENOCK MATHAPOLY-CODJOE [MPhil, LLB, BA] and EMMANUEL AIKENS ABAKAH [PhD, MPhil, BSc]