228. (1) Where any person has vacated any office established by this Constitution (including any office established under article 100, 124, and 125) he may, if qualified, again be appointed, elected or otherwise selected to hold that office in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

(2) Where by this Constitution a power is conferred upon 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 an appointment made in pursuance of this paragraph, then for the purposes of any function conferred upon the holder of that office the person last appointed shall be deemed to be the sole holder of the office.

(3) The preceding paragraph shall have effect in relation to the office of any Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature or the Clerk or Deputy Clerk or the National Assembly as if that office were a public office.

229. (1) Any person who is appointed or elected to or otherwise selected for any office established by this Constitution (including any office established under article 100, 124 or 125) may resign from that office and, save as otherwise provided by articles 156 (1) , 157 and 178 (1), shall do so by writing under his hand addressed to the person or authority by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.

(2) The resignation of any person from any such office as aforesaid signified by writing under his hand shall take effect when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the person or authority to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that person or authority to receive it or employed to assist that person in the performance of the functions of his office.

230. Where by this Constitution a person is required to vacate an office when he attains an age prescribed by or under the provisions of this Constitution nothing done by him in the performance of the functions of that office shall be invalid by reason only that he has attained the age so prescribed.

231. Where by this Constitution the President of any other person or authority is required to perform any function in accordance with the advice or recommendation or, or after consultation with, another person or authority, or not to make an appointment without the concurrence of another person or authority, the question whether the President or that other person or authority, the question whether the President or that other person or authority has received or acted in accordance with such advice or recommendation, or whether such consultation has taken place, or whether the appointment has received such concurrence, shall not be enquired into in any court.

232. (1) In this Constitution, except as otherwise provided or required by the context––

"alien" means a person who is not a Commonwealth citizen, a British protected person or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland;

"attorney-at-law" means a person having a general right of audience in the Supreme Court of Judicature;

"Commissioner of Police" means the officer, however styled, commanding the Police Force;

"the Commonwealth" means Guyana and any country to which article 47 applies and any dependency of any such country;

"court" means any court of law in Guyana;

"elected member of the National Assembly" means any person elected as a member of the National Assembly pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) or (3) or (4) of article 60 or article 160 (2);

"election" means an election of members to serve in the National Assembly, the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs or other elected body established by or under this Constitution, as the case may be;

"financial year" means any period of twelve months beginning on the first day of January in any year or such other date as Parliament may prescribe;

"Guyana" includes, in relation to any period before the day on which this Constitution commences, or anything done before that day, Guyana as it was before that day as well as the former Colony of British Guiana;

"law" includes any instrument having the force of law and any unwritten rule of law and "lawful" and "lawfully" shall be construed accordingly;

"local democratic organ" means any local government authority;

"oath" includes affirmation;

"oath of office" means, in relation to any office, the oath for the due execution of that office set out in the Schedule to this Constitution or such other oath in that behalf as may be prescribed by Parliament;

"Parliament" means the Parliament of Guyana;

"the Police Force" means the Police Force established by the Police Act and includes any other police force established by or under an Act of Parliament to succeed to or to supplement the functions of that Force but does not include any police force forming part of any naval, military or air force or any police force established by any local democratic organ;

"public office' means an office of emolument in the public service;

"public officer" means the holder of any public office and includes any person appointed to act in any such office;

"the public service" means, subject to the provisions of paragraph (5), the service of the Government of Guyana in a civil capacity;

"regional democratic council" means the local democratic organ for any region established under article 72;

"session" means, in relation to the National Assembly and the Supreme Congress of the People, the sittings of the Assembly or of the Congress, as the case may be, commencing when it first meets after this Constitution comes into force or after the prorogation of dissolution of Parliament or the Congress, as the case may e, at any time and terminating when Parliament or the Congress, as he case may be, is prorogued or is dissolved without having been prorogued;

"sitting" means, in relation to the National Assembly and the Supreme Congress of the People, a period during which the Assembly or the Congress, as the case may be, is sitting continuously without adjournment and includes any period during which the Assembly or the Congress, as the case may be, is in committee and

"the State" means the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

(2) In this Constitution, unless it is otherwise provided or required by the context––

(a) a reference to power to make appointments to any office shall be construed as including a reference to power to make appointments on promotion and transfer and to confirm appointments and to power to appoint a person to act in or perform the functions of that office at any time when the office is vacant or the holder thereof is unable (whether by reason of absence or infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) to perform the functions of that office; and
(b) a reference to the holder of an office by the term designated his office shall be construed as including a reference to any person for the rime being lawfully acting in or performing the functions of that office.

(3) Where by this Constitution any person is directed, or power is conferred on any person or authority to appoint or elect a person , to perform the functions of an office if the holder thereof is unable to perform those functions, the validity of any performance of those functions by the person so directed or of any appointment or election made in exercise of that power shall not be called in question in any court on the ground that the holder of the office was not or is not unable to perform the functions of the office.

(4) For the purposes of this Constitution, a person shall not be considered to hold a public office by reason only that he is in receipt of a pension or other like allowance in respect of public service.

(5) In this Constitution references to the public service shall not be construed as including service in––

(a) the office of President, Minister, Attorney General, Parliamentary Secretary, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Minority Leader, Ombudsman, or member of the National Assembly or of the Supreme Congress of the People or of the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs;
(b) the office of a member of any Commission established by this Constitution;
(c) the office of a member of any board, committee or other similar body (whether incorporated or not) established by any law in force in Guyana;
(d) the office of any Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature or Clerk or Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly except for the purposes of the next following paragraph and save as otherwise provided in any other provision of this Constitution; or
(e) any body of persons organised as a national service within the meaning of article 154.

(6) References in this Constitution to the power to remove a public officer from his office shall be construed as including references to any power conferred by any law to require or permit that officer to retire from the public service:

Provided that––

(a) nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as conferring on any person or authority power to require a Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commissioner of Police, the Auditor General or the Clerk or Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly to retire from his office; and
(b) any power conferred by any law to permit a person to retire from the public service shall, in the case of any public officer who may be removed from office by some person or authority other than a Commission established by this Constitution, vest in the Commission that, if he were to retire, would be the appropriate Commission in relation to him for the purposes of article 214.

(7) Any provision in this Constitution that vests in any person or authority the power to remove any public officer from his office shall be without prejudice to the power of any person or authority to abolish that office or to any law providing for the compulsory retirement of public officers generally or any class of public officers on attaining an age specified by or under that law, and, in the case of the Public Service Commission, the Teaching Service Commission and the Police Service Commission, shall be without prejudice to power hereby conferred on the President to remove any such officer from his officer from his office in the public interest.

(8) subject to article 226 (6), 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 the exercise of any functions shall be construed as precluding a court from exercising jurisdiction in relation to any question whether that person or authority has exercised those functions in accordance with this Constitution or any other law.

(9) The Interpretation and General Clauses Act as in force immediately before the commencement of this Constitution, shall apply, with the necessary adaptations, for the purpose of interpreting this Constitution and otherwise in relation thereto as it applied for the purpose of interpreting, and in relation to, any Act in force immediately before such commencement, and in such application shall have effect as if it formed part of this Constitution.