Our Constitution provides for the appointment of a Prime Minister by the Governor-General from among members of the House of Representatives who in his/her opinion is considered the leader of the political party which commands the support of the majority of the members of the House. If it happens that no political party has an overall majority, the Governor-General appoints a member of the House who appears to him/her most likely to command the support of the majority of the members in the House.

The Cabinet, which is the chief policy-making body in the Government machinery, is made up of persons who formulate the policy and programme of the Government and is headed by the Prime Minister. These persons are drawn from the National Assembly, which comprises both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Prime Minister holds discussions with various elected members of his party and then submits a list of names of Representatives and/or Senators he wants to serve on his Cabinet. The Governor-General then appoints the persons the Prime Minister desires, and makes them responsible for the Ministries which the Prime Minister has decided on.

The Government then is really the Cabinet and consists of the Prime Minister and other Ministers, all of whom are collectively responsible for every part of the Government's administration. Each Minister is given certain departments, for which he is responsible to the Prime Minister and the National Assembly. It is the Prime Minister then that actually appoints the other Ministers and who may also require them to resign. All Ministers must be members of either the House of Representatives or the Senate and a Minister may speak only in the House of which he is a member.

The Minister must be prepared to speak on behalf of his own Ministry or for any part of the Government's field of responsibility. They must all defend the policy of the Government in both of the Houses. They may disagree inside the Cabinet but once a vote is taken each and everyone is obliged to defend that policy and it is never known, or should never be known, that any of them did not agree with this or that policy. In the event that a Minister feels so strongly against a policy that he does not intend to defend it in the National Assembly or in private and public, it is normal for him to resign as a Minister of the Cabinet. If not, the Prime Minister may call on him to do so.

In theory, the Cabinet is responsible to the National Assembly, and through the National Assembly to the people, who may call it to account at the next general election by giving a majority to the other party.

The Cabinet works in great secrecy. No outside person is allowed to see any Cabinet papers until they have become only of historical interest, and no member of the Cabinet may refer outside to the discussions that have taken place in the Cabinet. This rule is strictly observed, and if it can be proved that a Minister has made known to outsiders any of the secret discussions he is liable to prosecution, and if found guilty by the Court can be sent to prison.