EASTGEN YOUTH GROUP

CONSTITUTION AND RULES

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1. BASIC INFORMATION OF THE GROUP

The name of the group shall be EASTGEN YOUTH GROUP. It is going to be a self help group.
 Postal address shall be P.O BOX 21 - 90400 KYUSO
 Physical address: The group shall be domiciled and operating at Masyungwa Location.
 Contacts: 1. Chairman – John Musili , Tel 0726 655 811 2. Secretary – Brian Mwendwa. Tel
0715 221306

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE GROUP

 The main objective of the group is to ensure progress of the members and the general community
through continuous education programs on income generating activities, role of Agricultural
business in reduction of poverty, upholding human dignity and co-operation.

3. CURRENT ACTIVITIES
 The group is engaged in planting of seedlings for sale
 We are also engaged in bees and goats keeping activities.
 Monthly contribution for saving

4. FUTURE ACTIVITIES
 We are aiming at digging a borehole that will be owned and managed by the group members.
 We also wish to start a big irrigation activity for the group members.

5. MEMBERSHIP
 Any person who is over the age of eighteen years and living in Masyungwa Location shall be
eligible for membership of the group and shall, subject to approval of the committee, become a
member upon payment of a registration fee of Ksh300/=.
 Every member shall pay a monthly subscription of Ksh. 200/= not later than the 15 th day of each
month.
 Any member desiring to resign from the group shall submit his resignation to the secretary,
which shall take effect from the date of receipt by the secretary of such notice.
  Any member maybe expelled from membership if the committee so recommends and if a
general meeting of the group shall resolve by a two-thirds majority of the members present that
such a member should be expelled on grounds that his conduct has adversely affected the
reputation or dignity of the group, or that he has contravened any of the provisions of the
constitution of the group
 A person within the community will not be discriminated on the basis of his family, clan, tribe,
race, religion, etc.

6. MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
a) The office bearers of the group shall be
i. The Chairman
ii. The Vice-Chairman
iii. The Secretary
iv. The treasurer
v. Committee members
vi. A Patron
All of whom shall be fully paid-up members of the group and shall be elected at the annual
general meeting to be held in each year.
b) All office bearers shall hold office from the date of election until the succeeding annual
general meeting.
c) Any office bearer who ceases to be a member of the group shall automatically cease to be an
office bearer thereof.
d) Office bearers may be removed from office in the same way as it is laid down for the expulsion
of members and vacancies thus created shall be filled by persons elected at the general meeting
resolving the expulsion.

7. DUTIES AND RESPONSILITIES

 Chairman-the Chairman shall, unless prevented by illness or other sufficient cause, preside over all
meetings of the committee and at all general meetings

 Secretary- the Secretary shall deal with all the correspondence of the group under the general
supervision of the committee. In cases of urgent matters where the committee cannot be consulted,
he shall consult the Chairman. The decisions reached shall be subject to ratification or otherwise at
the next committee meeting. He shall issue notices convening all meetings of the committee and all
 general meetings of the group and shall be responsible for keeping minutes of all such meetings and
for the preservation of all records of proceedings of the group and the committee.

 Treasurer-The Treasurer shall receive and shall also disburse, under the directions of the
committee, all moneys belonging to the group and shall issue receipts for all moneys received by
him and preserve vouchers for all moneys paid by him. The treasurer is responsible to the
committee and to the members that proper books of account of all moneys received and paid by the
group are written up, preserved and available for inspection.

 The Patron – The patron shall add weight to the capacity of the group in order to progress
its purpose especially its public image and income generating activities etc.

 Committee members – shall be responsible for the management of the group’s affairs and
for that purpose may give directions to the office bearers as to the manner in which the law
they perform their duties.

8. ELECTIONS
a) No member shall be eligible for election into the committee unless he has been a member
of the group for at least a year.
b) Nobody shall be eligible to be elected into the committee if he:-
i) Is delinquent
ii) Is below 18 years of age
iii) Is of unsound mind
iv) Is unable to provide an indemnity as determined by the General Meeting.
v) Does not hold unwithdrawable shares of at least Kshs.2,400/- contributed though monthly
contribution
vi) Is not able to read and write
vii) Does not meet other qualifications set by the Act and Rules.
viii) The term of office of the members of the Committee shall be 2 years; and no member shall be
elected to the committee for more than 2 consecutive terms.
c) ELECTIONS
a) All elections shall be determined by simple majority vote of the members present and
voting.
 b) All elections shall be by show of hands unless another method is specifically requested by
majority of the members present.
d) c) No member shall be entitled to vote by proxy.
d) Irrespective of the number of shares held by him, no member shall have more than one
vote.
e) Within 10 days of their election, the names and addresses of all persons elected to office
shall be compiled and sent to the SDO’S office.

8. GROUP MEETINGS
Members discussed and stated the following issues;
 The venue of the group meetings shall be at Masyungwa Market in the market hall or any other
venue so decided by the committee members prior to the next meeting.
 Time of meeting shall be 2.00pm
 Quorum for general meetings shall be not less than two thirds of the registered members of the
group.
 There shall be regular Monthly and annual (AGM). Regular meetings will held around 30 th of
every month as communicated by the chairman during the current meeting. The annual general
meetings shall be held not later than 31st December in each year.
 At all meetings of the group, the Chairman or in his absence, a member selected by the meeting
shall take the chair.
a) The chairman may at his discretion limit the number of persons permitted to speak in favour
of and against any motion.
b) Resolutions shall be decided by simple voting by a show of hands. In the case of equality of
votes, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.
 Communication about the next meeting will be done by the chairman during the ongoing
meeting. Notice in writing of an annual general meeting, accompanied by the annual statement
of account and the agenda for the meeting shall be sent to all members not less than 21 days
before the date of the meeting.
9. GENERAL RULES AND REGULATION
10. The following are some of the issues discussed on how to discipline/fine errant members of the
group and the specific amount of fine to be imposed;
 Lateness in attending group meetings shall be discouraged by penalizing late comers Ksh20
  Absenteeism from the group meetings without prior information to the chairman will attract a
fee of Ksh50/-
 Drunkardness, rudeness, insults, vulgar language/rumor mongering and or any misconduct that
may undermine the operations and/or reputation of the group shall lead to a warning to the
concerned member and a penalty of Ksh100. Repetitive misconduct may lead to expulsion of
the member.
 Late/non contribution-defaulting will not be encouraged as the group is a self help group. This
may lead to penalty of 1% of the value being contributed.
 To be a member you must be living in Masyungwa Location.
 The management committee is elected by show of hands at the end of each year.
 Members can apply for emergency loans in case of health problems, accidents or death in the
family.
 The interest rate on emergency loans is 1%.
 The term of emergency loans is six weeks.
 The fine on late repayment of emergency loans is 2% per month.
 In case of the death of a member, loans must be paid back by the deceased member’s family.
All other amounts (savings and shares of interest and fines) will be paid to the family of the
deceased member.

11. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

 The group shall open a bank account with KCB – Kyuso branch in the name of Easterngen
Youth Group.
 The Account signatories shall be 1. The Chairman 2. The Treasurer 3. One of the committee
members 4. The Patron The Chairman and the Patron must sign.
 Proper books of accounts showing income and expenditures, Cash in hand and cash held at
the bank must be kept. Cash held at hand by the treasurer should only be for miscellaneous
expenditures and should not be more than a quarter of the daily cash income.
 In case misappropriation of group’s money recovery shall be from the indemnity provided.

12. CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Member have agreed the following methods/ways of resolving any dispute in the group,
 Officials/members to sit and resolve.
 Report to the office of Social Development or the Area chief.
13. AMMENDMENT OF BY LAWS
 Members of the group are at liberty to amend any clause of the bylaws according to their
needs/objective and suitability. Members to agree on the rule to be amended and all members
should be informed. Amendments to the constitution of the group must be approved by at least
two-thirds majority of members at a general meeting..
NB: Any amendment should be noted in the minutes and 2/3 members MUST sign.

14. DISSOLUTION
 The group shall not be dissolved except by a resolution passed at a general meeting of members by
vote of two-thirds of the members present. If no quorum is obtained, the proposal to dissolve the
group shall be submitted to a further general meeting which shall be held one month later. Notice
of this meeting shall be given to all members of the group at least 14 days before the date of the
meeting. The quorum for this second meeting shall be the number of members present.
 Incase the group dissolves, the chairperson, at the time of dissolution MUST return the registration
certificate to the office of Social Development immediately failure to which, (s)he will be held
responsible in case of ANY misuse of the same.

NB: All members should have a copy of the bylaws