Attorney-General

140. Attorney-General (1) The power to appoint a person to hold or act in the office of Attorney-General shall vest in the King, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister. (2) (a) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed to hold or act in the office of Attorney-General unless he holds one of the specified qualifications and has held one or other of those qualifications for a total period of not less than five years. (b) In this subsection "the specified qualifications" means the professional qualifications specified by the Legal Practitioners Act 1983 or by or under any law amending or replacing that Act, one of which must be held by any person before he may apply under that Act, or under any such law, to be admitted as a legal practitioner in Lesotho. (3) If the office of Attorney-General is vacant or if the Attorney-General is for any reason unable to exercise the functions of his office, a person qualified for appointment to that office may be appointed to act therein, and any person so appointed shall, subject to the provisions of subsections (4), (6) and (8), continue to act until a person has been appointed to the office of Attorney-General and has assumed the functions of that office or, as the case may be, until the person in whose place he is acting has resumed those functions. (4) Subject to the provisions of subsection (6), the Attorney-General shall vacate his office when he attains the prescribed age. (5) A person holding the office of Attorney General may be removed from office only for Page 81 (5) A person holding the office of Attorney-General may be removed from office only for inability to exercise the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause) or for misbehaviour and shall not be so removed except in accordance with the provisions of this section. (6) The Attorney-General shall be removed from office by the King if the question of his removal from office has been referred to a tribunal appointed under subsection (7) and the tribunal has recommended to the King that he ought to be removed for inability as aforesaid or for misbehaviour. (7) If the Prime Minister represents to the King that the question of removing the Attorney- General under this section ought to be investigated, then - (a) the King shall appoint a tribunal which shall consist of a Chairman and not less than two other members, selected by the Chief Justice from among persons who hold or have held high judicial office; and (b) the tribunal shall enquire into the matter and report on the facts thereof to the King and recommend to him whether the Attorney-General ought to be removed under this section. (8) if the question of removing the Attorney-General has been referred to a tribunal under this section, the King, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, may suspend the Attorney-General from the exercise of the functions of his office and any such suspension may at any time be revoked by the King, acting in accordance with such advice as aforesaid, and shall in any case cease to have effect if the tribunal recommends to the King that the Attorney-General should not be removed. (9) The prescribed age for the purposes of subsection (4) is the age of fifty-five years or such other age as may be prescribed by Parliament: Provided that an Act of Parliament, to the extent to which it alters the prescribed age after the appointment of a person to be or to act as Attorney General, shall not have effect in relation to that person unless he consents that it should have effect.