Disqualification of certain persons from being members

(1) No person shall be eligible for election as a member of a Council, or certain persons having been elected, shall sit or vote on the Council, who– (a) holds an office of emolument or place of profit in the gift or disposal of the Council; (b) has directly or indirectly by himself or his partner, any share or interest in any contract with the Council; (c) is in the employment of the Council; (d) has, in Belize or any other Commonwealth country, been sentenced to death or to 10 imprisonment, by whatever name called, for a term exceeding twelve months and has not either suffered the punishment to which he was sentenced or such other punishment as may by competent authority have been substituted therefor or received a free pardon; (e) is a person adjudged to be of unsound mind or detained as a criminal lunatic under any law in force in Belize; (f) is a public officer, other than a teacher or an open vote worker; (g) is a returning officer for an election of members of the Council; (h) has not ordinarily resided in the town for which the Council is being elected for at least one year immediately preceding the date of the election, or is not domiciled in Belize or ordinarily resident therein at the date of the (i) is or becomes a member of the National Assembly or of any Commission established by or under the Belize Constitution. (2) For the purposes of this section, a person shall not be disqualified from being a member by reason of his being interested in– (a) any contract in respect of which the Minister shall remove the disqualification if he is of the opinion that such removal will be of public benefit; 11 (b) any newspaper in which any advertisement relating to the affairs of the Council is inserted; or (c) any contract with the Council as a shareholder in any joint stock company, but he shall not vote at any meeting of the Council on any question in which such company is interested. (3) The office of Mayor of every Council and the office of a member are declared not to be offices of emolument or places of profit in the gift or disposal of the Council although remuneration may be paid to such Mayor and member out of moneys provided by the Council. (4) A person shall not be considered as holding an office of emolument or place of profit in the gift or disposal of a Council or as being in the employment of the Council or as holding a public office by reason only of the fact that he is in receipt of a pension of other like allowance in respect of service under the Council or the Public Service, or that he holds a general retainer as solicitor of the Council.