CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF HAITI
TITLE VIII
THE CIVIL SERVICE
ARTICLE 234:
The Haitian Civil Service is the instrument by which the State carries out its missions and
achieves its objectives. To ensure its viability, it must be managed honestly and efficiently.
ARTICLE 235:
Government employees and officials shall be exclusively in the service of the State. It is their
duty to abide faithfully by the norms and ethics determined by law for civil servants.
ARTICLE 236:
The law establishes the organization of the various Government structures and stipulates the
conditions for their operation.
ARTICLE 236-1:
The law shall regulate the civil service on the basis of aptitude, merit and conduct. It shall
guarantee security of employment.
ARTICLE 236-2:
The civil service is a career. No official may be hired except by competition or by meeting other
conditions prescribed by the Constitution and by law, nor may he be dismissed except for causes
specifically determined by law. Dismissals must in all cases be ruled upon by the Court of
Administrative Disputes.
ARTICLE 237:
Career service officials are not members of any particular Government agency but are members
of the civil service, which makes them available to the various Government agencies.
ARTICLE 238:
Officials indicated by law have the obligation to declare the status of their net worth to the Clerk
of the Civil Court within thirty (30) days following their entry into service. The Government
Auditor must take every step he deems necessary to verify the
accuracy of the declaration.
ARTICLE 239:
Government employees and officials may form associations to defend their rights
under the conditions established by law.
ARTICLE 240:
Holders of public office or positions, particularly Ministers and Secretaries of State,
officers of the Public Prosecutor's Office, Delegates and Vice Delegates, ambassadors,
private secretaries of the President of the Republic, members of the Cabinet of
Ministers, the Directors General of the Ministerial Department or autonomous
agencies, and members of the Administrative Council are not eligible for the
Government career services.
ARTICLE 241:
The law punishes violations committed against the treasury and unjust gain. Officials
who have knowledge of such actions have the duty to report them to the competent
authorities.
ARTICLE 242:
Unjust gain may be determined by all types of evidence, particularly presumption of
sharp disproportion between the official's means acquired after his entry into service
and the accumulated amount of salaries and emoluments to which the post he has
occupied entitles him.
ARTICLE 243:
Officials guilty of the above offenses are entitled only to the twenty-year statute of
limitation. This limitation period begins to run with the termination of their duties or
the causes that would have prevented any prosecution.
ARTICLE 244:
The State has the duty to avoid major salary disparities in the civil service.
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