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    "id": 1001532,
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    "content": "the member came to office by way of appointment, then his or her removal is arrived at by way of revocation of the appointment. What follows then is for me to answer to the question: What is revocation? According to the Black’s Law Dictionary edited by Bryan A. Garner, the term “revoke” is defined as the act of rescinding a decision. Further, according to Section 482 of the Mason’s Manual on LegislativeProcedure at page 319, and I quote: “A legislative body can rescind an action previously taken, so long as no vested rights have arisen from the original action. The motion to rescind may be made at any subsequent meeting, as long as no rights have intervened and is not limited to any specific or particular time during which the motion can be made.” Hon. Members, as mentioned earlier, political parties nominate members for appointment to the Commission by the House. It is left to the House to either accept to appoint the nominees or reject a person proposed for appointment. The word “nominate” as used in the various provisions of the Constitution relating to constitutional commissions and independent offices is not among the terms defined under Article 260 of the Constitution. But the Black’s Law Dictionary defines the term “nominate” as the act of proposing a person for election or appointment. Thus, I am inclined to agree with the Members who are of the opinion that the approach employed to appoint a person into a constitutional office ought to be mirrored as closely as possible, in the method employed to remove the person from the office, thus implying revocation of appointment. Hon. Members, now this brings me to the second question, which is between the provisions of Article 251 of the Constitution, as read together with Standing Order 230 and Section 10 of the Parliamentary Service Act 2019, which are the applicable provisions to be applied in the removal of a Member of Parliament or a non-member of Parliament from the office of member of the PSC. This is not the first time the Speaker has been confronted with this question. Indeed, by way of a letter dated 20th June 2018, the Minority Whip, Hon. Junet Nuh, sought my guidance on the process of the removal of a Member of Parliament appointed as a Commissioner to the PSC. For the benefit of the House, the substantive part of my brief response to Hon. Junet Nuh is as follows: “Pursuant to the provisions of Article 127 (2) of the Constitution as read together with Section 51 of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act Cap 2, the procedure for the removal of a commissioner under Article 127 (2) paragraph C (i) of the Constitution is through a Motion for removal of the commissioner to the House, for its consideration and passage in terms of Article 122 of the Constitution regarding voting.” Hon. Members, there are two things to note with regards to the guidance I gave to Hon. Junet at the time. The first one is that in referring to Section 51 of the Interpretation and General Provisions Cap.2, I took cognisance of the inherent power of the House to revoke the appointment of a member of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) as it is the only body mandated to appoint such a commissioner in the first place. Secondly, as Members are aware, no other specific provision outlining the procedure for the removal of a commissioner of the PSC was in place at the time. Consequent to that guidance, this House passed the PSC Act, 2019 outlining specific provisions on the procedure to be followed by the House to revoke the appointment of a commissioner to the PSC. Before I examine the procedure for the removal of a commissioner of the PSC as provided for in the PSC Act, 2019, allow me to examine the provisions of Article 251 of the Constitution which provides for the procedure of the removal of a member of a constitutional commission. Article 251 of the Constitution provides that the member of a commission (other than an ex-officio The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}