Lawyer: Follow constitution

National
Source:
The National, Wednesday July 13th, 2016

THE Constitution is more powerful than the Government, says lawyer Loani Henao.
He said it was not the first time the Supreme Court had to correct the unlawful actions of the Government.
“This time the Supreme Court has ruled that the behaviour of Parliament and the behaviour of Government by manipulating the Business Committee to avoid debate on the motion of no confidence is unconstitutional,” Henao said.
“So the message to the Government now and the Government of the future is that the people have spoken through the Supreme Court.
“This is not an application only by the Leader of the Opposition (Don Polye). This is an application by the people of this country.”
Henao said the Government had passed an amendment on the 30-month grace period of the Constitution but the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional.
“The Supreme Court, about a month ago, ruled that the amendment to the constitution to facilitate the asylum seekers in this country was unconstitutional,” Henao said.
“We’ve been going through this process, this is properly the third major decision this Supreme Court has gone through for the people. We hope that this will be a lesson to the Government. The Constitution is above the Government and above everybody.”
He said every time the Government made a mistake, the Supreme Court pulled it in line.
“This is the job of the Opposition and my job as a lawyer to make sure that the peoples’ right in the constitution is defended and protected and not to be abused by the Government.”