| caption: |
Chapter four - The village administration |
| caption: |
the village council; composition and duties |
| note: |
footnotes indicated by boxes within square brackets |
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The village council is composed of elders of wealth and standing and generally numbers from ten to fifteen, according to the size of the village. The choice is purely on merit and the council is not necessarily composed of representatives from each tsami. As mentioned above, the kadepeo and the kadepeo-katseipeo automatically represent their own moieties and the tsami which compose them. as for that matter do the other elders who are members so that every individual in the village community is in some sense represented on the council. New members are co-opted as necessary. The council is convened by the kadepeo and the tingkhupeo, who call to a given meeting such members as they see fit. The council decides all (90) matters of village business and administration, and its discussions are usually private or semi- private, but, where an important or controversial issue is being considered or when the council sits as a court of justice, the hearings are public, the meeting-place is the village street or some other place as open and accessible as possible, and every male villager has the right to speak. |
