[Community-Discuss] [members-discuss] ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEMBERS’ MEETING (AGMM)

[Owen DeLong]

> On Jun 1, 2022, at 12:25 , Noah <noah at neo.co.tz> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 1 Jun 2022, 22:51 Ish Sookun, <ish.sookun at lasentinelle.mu <mailto:ish.sookun at lasentinelle.mu>> wrote:
> Hi Noah,
> 
>> On 1 Jun 2022, at 22:22, Noah <noah at neo.co.tz <mailto:noah at neo.co.tz>> wrote:
>> 
>> Part of the above sentence reads ...
>> 
>> appoint "A" representative….
> 
> I understand the “A” and the second word is “representative”. A representative can be a person or a group of persons.
> 
> Hi Ish
> 
> English is not my lingo as Swahili was my first language and primary language but I tend to think that the meaning changes depending on how words are contracted together.
> 
> 1. A representative of....
> 2. Representatives of....
> 3. Representative
> 4. Representatives...
> 
> Do all the above have the same meaning.
> 

It depends on the context, but certainly there is overlap of meaning amongst those terms.

In the case of the bylaws, indeed, there is ambiguity (as is Ashok’s specialty) subject to interpretation of the meaning of “A representative” in that context.

In such a case of ambiguity, especially in a context where, as Andrew mentions, legal counsel being present to advise would be potentially important, “A representative” should be construed to include whatever “representative” the entity deems necessary to constitute “a representative”, even if that includes a team of people.

It would be legitimate to insist that only one of those members of the “representative team” do the speaking and voting on behalf of the entire representative team, but limiting the online presence only to one representative per organization is unreasonable.

Further, there is very long and well established precedence against such a restriction. Any change of such magnitude should certainly come with sufficient notice for the change to be considered, deliberated, and either agreed or rejected by the membership.

Owen

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