“Article 248(5) of the Constitution stipulates that the Chairperson or member shall be removed from office by the President of the Republic on recommendation of the Constitutional Council on grounds of inability to hold office and discharge the functions due to physical or mental illness or impeached.

According to Article 101 of the Constitution, dismissal by impeachment is carried out based on recommendation resulting from investigations by Parliamentary Committee into the allegation of serious violation of the Constitution and law, incompetence or misconduct or failure to discharge the duties of the office honestly or serious violation of the code of conduct.

The NHRCN notes that in practice, incompetence is based on physical or mental disability as contained in a report of a certified medical practitioner and allegations of corruption constitute grounds of misconduct. However, the SCA is of the view that the procedure of dismissal as laid down in the Constitution, the Law or Parliamentary Procedure does not provide a clear definition for incompetence, misconduct or discharging duties honestly as referenced by the Constitution.

The SCA recommends that the NHRCN advocate for the dismissal process to be in accordance with clear grounds including the scope of “incompetence”, “misconduct”, and “failure to discharge duties of the office honestly” and that is included within the working procedures to guarantee a transparent process for dismissals.

The SCA refers to General Observation 2.1 on ‘Guarantee of tenure for members of the NHRI decision-making body’.”