Ghana Geotechnical Society (GGS)

1.       SUBSCRIPTIONS

1.1           Members shall pay annual subscriptions; these subscriptions shall be collected every calendar year -from January to December- and payable before 31st December of the year to which it relates.

1.2           The subscription for the different categories of membership will be as follows:

(a)           Institution membership — GH¢50.00/year

(b)           Individual/Associate membership — GH¢25.00/year

(c)           Student membership — GH¢5.00/year

1.3           New members joining during the year will be deemed as members for the whole year and will pay the full subscription; they will receive all the privileges like any continuing member in accordance with the constitution.

1.4           The Executive Committee may propose for the upwards review of subscription rates as and when it becomes necessary subject to the approval of the general meeting.

2.       APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

2.1           Individual/Associate/Institutions/Students may apply for membership by completing the prescribed form, supported by one member of the Society, and submitted to the Secretary, Ghana Geotechnical Society.

2.2           The Executive Committee shall consider whether to accept or reject an application, and the decision shall be final and binding on the applicant.

2.3           The Executive Committee may not be obliged by the applicant to assign reasons for the rejection of their application.

3.       PROCEDURE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

3.1           The election of all members of the Executive Committee shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and these Byelaws.

a.              Election of new Executive Officers shall be held not later than ninety (90) days from the end of term of the incumbent executives.  If a vacancy is created in the Executive Committee for any reason, bye-elections shall be conducted to fill the vacancy within sixty (60) days since the vacancy was created.

b.             All members of the Executive Committee shall be elected from amongst the Individual membership of the Society.  The election may be by secret ballot, and the electorate shall be all members of the Society in good standing.  Each member shall have only one vote for any one position being contested.

c.              When elections are due the sitting Executive Committee shall appoint a Returning Officer who shall be responsible for the successful organisation and declaration of the election results.

d.             The Executive Committee shall provide all logistic support for the work of the Returning Officer, but shall not otherwise interfere, control or direct the Officer in the discharge of his duties.

e.              The Returning Officer may co-opt up to two (2) other members subject to the approval of the Executive Committee for the smooth conduct of the elections.

3.2           Election Procedure:  The following procedure shall be adopted for the election of the President and other members of the Executive Committee:

(a)           The President of the Society shall cause to be advertised, for the attention of all individual/affiliate/institution members, nominations for the positions to be contested for and same shall be copied to the Returning Officer. 

(b)           Nominations, which shall be done by the completion of appropriate forms, shall be open for a 30-day period starting from the day of the first advertisement.

(c)           Nomination forms shall be collected from the Returning Officer who shall receive all duly completed forms within the stipulated time; nominations shall specify the positions being contested and no member may present themselves for two positions at the same time/elections.

(d)           Nominated members shall be vetted by the Returning Officer.

(e)           The names of successful applicants shall be printed on the ballot papers and circulated to all the electorate concerned for final election.  A period of at least 30 days and not exceeding 45 days shall be given for the receipt of all ballot papers in double sealed envelopes. 

(f)            The day and time of opening and counting of ballots shall be conspicuously printed on the ballot papers.  Ballot papers shall be opened and counted in public not later than three (3) days after the close of elections.  Contestants may nominate not more than two (2) members as their polling agents for the general conduct of the elections including opening and counting of the ballots.

(g)           The Returning Officer shall declare provisional results as soon as the counting is over, and within ten (10) days declare and confirm the final results. 

(h)           The contestant with the highest number of valid votes in his favour in the position being contested shall be declared the winner for that position.  If there is a tie the President or his nominee from amongst the executives shall have the final vote.

(i)             Contestants may submit written protests stating the grounds of the protest to the Returning Officer and copied to the Executive Committee not later than three (3) days after the declaration of the results.  The Returning Officer shall investigate the allegations and take a decision within three (3) days of receipt of the protest. 

(j)             The Returning Officer shall submit a written report on the general conduct of the elections to the Executive Committee not later than one month after the final declaration of results.  

4.       PRIVILEGES OF THE MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING

4.1           All registered members in good standing are entitled to participate in the meetings of the Society, and shall receive publications of the society free of charge, as follows:

a.              Institution members shall each receive three (3) copies of the Society journal.

b.             Individual/Associate/Student members shall each receive a copy of the Society journal.

4.2           All members are entitled and in fact encouraged to publish technical and other articles in the Society journal under the terms and conditions as may be set by the Editor(s).

4.3           Any paid-up member who is not specifically barred from doing so may contest for any office within the Society that may be vacant, except that at the time of elections:

                     i.            for the post of President, Secretary or Treasurer, a contestants would have been a registered member in good standing for at least five (5) consecutive years;

                    ii.            for other positions a contestants would have been a registered member in good standing for at least three (3) consecutive years; and

                  iii.            Student and/or Associate members may not contest for any place/post on the Executive Committee.

5.       FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE

This financial and accounting procedure herein presented shall be scrupulously adhered to without any deviation(s) that has/have not been previously agreed upon by the Executive Committee or the AGM at a properly convened meeting.

5.1       Receipts

1.         All moneys received for and/or on behalf of the Ghana Geotechnical Society or the Executive Committee or any of its sub-committees shall be acknowledged by any one of the following means, in order of preference.

i.      The issuance of an official receipt (if any), to reflect the exact amount received;

ii.     A letter of acknowledgement in which the amount received is explicitly stated; or

iii.    Evidenced by pay-in-slip on which the amount received is explicitly stated.

2.         Moneys received must be paid intact into the Society’s bank account within three (3) working days after the receipt of such moneys.  For the purposes of this clause, all non-banking days shall be regarded as non-working days even if they are working days.

3.         Direct lodgement or transfers into the Society’s bank account must be acknowledged in writing in reference to the date of lodgement.

4.         All moneys received must be paid into the bank INTACT, i.e. without making any payments whatsoever out of such moneys before banking.

5.2       Payments

1.         All payments shall be covered by payment vouchers duly authorised and approved with relevant supporting documents, if any.

2.         As much as possible, all payments shall be made by cheques written in personal or corporate names and crossed; if required to facilitate withdrawal at the bank, the cheque may be opened.  And to facilitate good financial records keeping writing of cash cheques shall not be accepted.

3.         In the absence of supporting documents, as is the case in certain transactions, a detailed description of the payment made shall be given on the payment voucher, and supported with an honour certificate explaining why documents could not be obtained.  The volume of such transactions shall not, at any one time, exceed an amount previously specified by the Executive Committee.

4.         Where the need arises for certain petty recurrent payments to be made the spending person or member shall be given an accountable imprest for such purposes; the imprest shall be retired weekly with detailed description of how such moneys were used.  The spending person shall not be reimbursed unless the previous imprest has been properly retired.

5.3       Auditing

1.         At the end of every financial year the Executive Committee shall appoint an auditor to audit the accounts of the Society.  A final report of this shall be submitted to the general membership of the Society at its Annual General Meeting by the Executive Committee.

2.         In their corporate capacity the Auditors shall be witnesses of the Executive Committee or the Society, in respect of all legal claims against any officer(s), member(s) or any body/bodies inside the Society.

3.         The Executive Committee may appoint an ad-hoc committee to audit the accounts of any committee, which may be established to undertake any commercial enterprise for the Society.