In this Constitution, unless a contrary intention appears:
any reference to a power of appointment to an office shall be construed as including a reference to the power to appoint a person to act in or perform the functions of that office;
any reference to the holder of an office by a term designating his or her office shall be construed as including a reference to any person for the time being lawfully acting in or performing the functions of that office.
Where in this Constitution power is vested in any person or authority to appoint any person to act in or perform the functions of any office if the holder thereof is himself or herself unable to perform those functions, no such appointment shall be called in question on the ground that the holder of the office was not unable to perform those functions.
228. Resignations
Any person who is appointed or elected to, or otherwise selected for, any office established by or under this Constitution may resign from that office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the person or authority by whom he or she was appointed, elected or selected. In the case of:
the President, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the Speaker and to the Chief Justice;
the Vice-President, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the President;
the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker, his or her resignation from that office shall be addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly; and
a member of the National Assembly, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the Speaker.
Any such resignation shall take effect, when no date is specified, when the writing is received-
in the case of the President, by the Speaker;
in any other case, by the person or authority to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that person or authority to receive it.
229. Re-appointments and concurrent appointments
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, where a person has vacated any office established by or under the Constitution, he or she may, if qualified, again be appointed, elected or otherwise selected to hold that office in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
Where by this Constitution a power is conferred on any person or authority to make any appointment to any public office, a person may be appointed to that office notwithstanding that some other person may be holding that office when that other person is on leave of absence pending relinquishment of the office; and where two or more persons are holding the same office by reason of any appointment made in pursuance of this subsection, then, for the purposes of any function conferred on the holder of that office, the person last appointed shall be deemed to be the holder of the office.
PART II. General
230. Interpretation
In this Constitution, unless a contrary intention appears-
“all the members” in relation to the National Assembly, means all the members for the time being of the National Assembly; “an Act of the National Assembly” includes an Act of Parliament established under any previous Constitution of The Gambia and a Decree of any former government;
“compulsory retirement age” has the meaning ascribed to it in section 171
“court” means any court of law in The Gambia, including a court martial;
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“disciplined force” means the Police Force, the Prison Service and the Armed Forces;
“district tribunal” means a court established by the District Tribunals Act or any Act of the National Assembly replacing that Act;
“existing laws” means the laws in force in The Gambia immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution, other than any such laws which are repealed or abrogated on, or immediately before, the coming into force of this Constitution;
“Gazette” means the official gazette of the Government;
” Government” means the executive government of The Gambia;
“high judicial office” means the office of a judge of a court of unlimited jurisdiction in criminal and civil and civil matters, or of a court with jurisdiction on appeal from such a court, in some part of the Commonwealth or such paragraph or item of the section, subsection, paragraph or sub-paragraph, as the case may be, in which the reference occurs.
“judge” includes the Chief justice of the Supreme Court, a Justice of the Court of Appeal and a Justice of the High Court;
“legal practitioner” means a person entitled to practise as such in accordance with an Act of the National Assembly;
“local government authority” means a city council, a municipality and an area council;
“Minister” includes the Attorney-General;
“oath” includes affirmation;
“prescribed oaths” means such oaths as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly in respect of the relevant office, and if no such oath is prescribed, means an oath of allegiance to The Gambia;
“public elections” mean the election for a President, National Assembly and a local government authority;
“Public Enterprise” has the meaning ascribed to it in section 175;
“public office” includes an office the emoluments attached to which are paid directly from the Consolidated Fund or directly out of moneys provided by an Act of the National Assembly, and the office of a member of a local government authority or the staff of a public Enterprise;
“the public service” means subject to subsection (3) and (4) of section 166 a service declared to be, or established as, a public service by or under that section;
“session” means the sitting of the National Assembly of the Gambia commencing when it first meets after a general election or after the adjournment of a session and ending when the session is adjourned or the National Assembly stands dissolved.
“superior court” in relation to the courts of The Gambia, means the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
In this Constitution, unless a contrary intention appears-
words importing natural persons shall include corporations;
words in the singular shall include the plural and words in the plural shall include the singular;
where a word is defined, other parts of speech and tenses of that word shall have the corresponding meaning;
words directing or empowering a public officer to do any act or thing, or otherwise applying to him or her by the designation of his or her officer, shall include his other successors in officer;
references to a subsection, paragraph, sub paragraph or item shall be construed as a reference to a sub section paragraph, sub-paragraph or item of the section, subsection, paragraph or sub-paragraph, as the case may be, in which the reference occurs.
For the purposes of this Constitution, a person shall not be regarded as holding an office of emolument under the Government or in the service of The Gambia by reason only that he or she is in receipt of a pension or other like benefit in respect of service in an office under the Government.
For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that any reference in this Constitution to the functions of the President includes reference to his or her functions as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic.
231. Construction of various powers
Where any power is conferred by this Constitution to make any proclamation, order, regulation, rule or pass any resolution or give any direction or make any declaration or designation, it shall be deemed to include the power, exercisable in like manner and subject to like conditions, if any, to amend or revoke the same:
Where any power is conferred by this Constitution on any person or authority to do or enforce the doing of any act or thing, all such powers shall be deemed to be also given as are necessary to enable that person or authority to do or enforce the doing of that act or thing.
No provision of this Constitution that any person or authority shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority in exercising any functions under this Constitution shall be construed as precluding a court from exercising jurisdiction in relation to any question whether or not such person or authority has performed those functions in accordance with this Constitution or any other law.
Where under any provision of this Constitution any person or authority is authorised or required to exercise any function after consultation with any other person or authority, the person or authority first referred to shall not be required to act in accordance with the advice of that person or authority.
Without prejudice to the provisions of section 167, but subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, the power to make any appointment to a public office includes the power to dismiss any person so appointed.
232. Transitional and consequential provisions
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, the provisions of Schedule 2 shall have effect on the coming into force of this Constitution.
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