time to call time?

Who knows? Is it the calling, the incessant voices saying, "go forward, move", is it some feeling of service, or just ego, a feeling like no one else could do it. Whatever the reason, the maneuvering before these decisions of who will be the representative, and who will be elected Kaiwhakahaere - whew too much for me.

I just wish they would accept that if it is meant to be, it will be - and that the new always comes after the old, and that it is okay to rest after mahi and that others will do what they will do and that is what they will do. In other words - let it go, let others have a go - it IS time for a change.

Stuff

One letter of support came from Riverton-based runanga Oraka-Aparima, whose representative is Ann Wakefield. She will have to stand down to give Solomon a run at the position.The chair of the Oraka runanga is Sandra Cook, who is regarded as one of Solomon's chief allies within the Ngai Tahu governance administration.She holds the position of principal adviser and leaked documents show her at loggerheads with Arihia Bennett, Tront's chief executive.The documents showed Solomon fought Bennett over committee structures and a management restructure that saw many of his loyal cronies go.

 The danger in not going is this is where the mana gets unraveled and this is where the dirty washing gets used and this is where hurts are revisited and slights are remembered - from all sides and positions get entrenched and hearts gets hardened and pity goes out the window and mercy is forgotten. This is what happens - it has happened before and it will happen again. Be prepared.

use tikanga not leaks

It is time to talk a bit about Ngāi Tahu and the situation at the top.

Sir Mark Solomon is stepping down after 19 years as Kaiwhakahaere, leader of the Iwi. This is a big thing, especially as there are now 'issues' in the media. 

I am of the mind that Mark has been a good leader that has helped the Iwi and that it is a good time for a change.

In recent times I have been especially impressed by Mark. The historical sexual abuse case has shown his leadership. He has said

Sir Mark said he had been campaigning for some time to stamp out all forms of violence and abuse within Ngāi Tahu communities.
On the runanga website, Sir Mark said the descendants of Kurī, the hapū in Kaikoura, were facing a challenging time.
Sir Mark, who is from Kaikoura, said his whanau had found it difficult living within the community, knowing some of their whanau had been perpetrators - or victims - of sexual abuse.
It has been reported a kaumatua has been convicted on sexual abuse charges.
Sir Mark said the hapū was addressing the issue as a community, rather than ignoring the issue and sweeping it under the carpet
the complainants are some of the bravest people he knows.

I also read the letter he sent to all members of the Iwi and within it he was accurate - all communities have sexual abuse victims and perpetrators, this is a community issue and the victims especially need support, they need to know they are supported and loved by the community, the community that includes relatives and friends of the perpetrator and that individual too. This issue within that community is the visible side of sexual abuse and it is within all of our communities. Don't be fooled into thinking it is rare - it isn't.

Mark resigned as chair of Takahanga, he said he will not seek re-election as the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Representative for Kaikoura and thus his time as Kaiwhakahaere is completed.

and now we have leaked confidential letters showing a real conflict - perhaps personal, perhaps ideological but definitely public now.

A confidential memorandum has been leaked containing a raft of allegations by chairman Sir Mark Solomon that the perception of nepotism and corruption were creeping into the way the iwi conducted itself.

I think the tense is wrong in that statement - "were creeping" nah it creeped a long time ago and guess what? I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing at all.

This bullshit of the "best person" for the job is imposed rubbish that just creates roles for non-iwi members - those roles could and can be filled with Iwi members - and that is what I would like.

I know nepotism has a bad name - and it is a pain when you are not in the inside running - and I know about that from bitter experience but the fundamentals are correct - use people you know, trust and can rely on.

The response from Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Arihia Bennett was very good

asking him to show restraint in his statements, or have the integrity to state them openly and with supporting evidence.

It is interesting to note that in her Iwi profile she writes

“Ko te whānau te mea tuatahi – Family comes first; everything I touch and do must be about the whānau way.”

So we get to the same spot as we have been in the past - and the media will lap it up because they love controversy.

What do I think about it all, whose side am I on?

I wish they'd just get their shit together and use tikanga to sort out their differences not leaked documents like some slimey politician. And at another level I just don't care - when you are in the mode you think you are a big fish, you think you matter, you think you are important - you aren't, you are just another cog, another descendant - our mana is your mana - sort your shit out top table!!!

Kaiwhakahaere message

I am reproducing this message from Mark Solomon, Kaiwhakahaere of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, about the Christchurch earthquake.

Tātangi nei te reo o apakura ki ōku taringa
He aituā e kukume i ngā taura o ngākau mōmotu
i te kukumetanga mai o Rūaumoko i ōna here ki te mata o te whenua
Nei te tangi ki ngā tini aituā kua wehe ki te pae o ngaromanga
Waiho mā mātou nei e apakura tū te ao, tū te pō
Nā reira nei te mihi ki a tātou Ngāi Mōrehu
Me pakahiwitahi tātou kia kiia ahakoa te taumahatanga o te wā
Āe rawa atu nei, kei te ora tonu te manaakitanga me te aroha ki tēnei whenua

 It has been such a tragic week and my thoughts are with all those who have lost family and friends in this earthquake. I also wish to acknowledge those who are, injured, unable to live in their homes, are living in damaged homes and so on. All residents of Christchurch, Canterbury and in the wider community have been affected in some way.

So far this website has been used to convey only essential-service messages and information about marae accommodation and respite. However, today there is a lot more resource around and a few extra minutes to dedicate to a quick update.

About 30 Te Rūnanga Group staff are working furiously at the new Wigram Hub to re-establish our core businesses and operations. This includes the Tahu FM crew. We are here because we have no access to Te Waipounamu House in the Central Business District. We do not expect to have access for many more weeks, possibly months to come. But this has not stopped us from delivering the mahi required at this time. The Ngāi Tahu/Iwi Katoa/Te Puni Kōkiri/Māori organisation relief effort is a combined and coordinated effort and linked in with the greater Civil Defence relief effort across the city. Many people are inputting into this effort whether from their homes, marae, or from the Ngāi Tahu Wigram Hub.

There are many from outside the city and all across the country who are also contributing and I thank all Iwi, Māori organisations, and all others for their generous donations. I also thank the many Cantabrians, New Zealanders and international citizens who are here on the ground doing their utmost to help us recover. The Red Cross Emergency and Hardship Grant is helping to address the immediate and dire needs of whānau who are without water, power or sewerage services. It is hard to adequately express how proud I am of our whānau and our wider community, you are simply extraordinary.

Over the days and weeks ahead, there will be time to report on this relief effort and I will post regular updates in this space, in the meantime, continue to take care of each other.

 Aroha ki te tangata

Mark Solomon.

We must look after the people - that is the priority.

the greater good

I am against the privatisation, even partly, of state assets. These energy companies already charge too much and bringing more profit motive won't help that. Of course to generate profit you can either increase revenue or decrease costs (in the guise of creating efficiency). Doesn't decreasing costs lead to redundancies and the like. Don't you increase revenue by raising prices?

Key has put the carrots out there of 'mum and dad' investors but they already own state assets and they won't be the investors it will be the corporates. He also mentioned that maori could buy in - and our Kaiwhakahaere has come out very, very, very quickly with a "yes it's a good idea."

Ngai Tahu says it supports the plan because it could be good for iwi investors.

Kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon says the privatisations of Government assets - such as New Zealand Rail - in the 1980s and 90s were poorly handled. But he says this proposal is a new chapter.

So Ngai Tahu as a corporate investor buy in and prices go up - what then - we make profit from others difficulty, even our own people?

The old 'if we don't someone else will' argument will be put - it is illusion and false hopes. It suits the agenda to have maori capitalists - they just support the system of oppression and make money while their cousins struggle on nothing.

80% oppose state assets - including many Ngai Tahu whanui.

The Standard have come out with some strong posts outling the reasons this selling of the family jewels is crazy. Here, here and here.

Te Hononga - the joining

In an article entitled “Nga Pumanawa e Waru” written by Himiona Tikitu of Ngati Awa in 1897, and published by Elsdon Best, eight talents or pumanawa required and expected of chiefs were noted. Number 7 was, "He mohio ki te hanga whare rimu, waka ranei, clever at building houses, fortified sites or canoes." That pumanawa was intrepreted/modified as 'Talents for today' by Professor H. Mead for a scoping paper and number 7 became "The leader is able to lead the community to undertake and successfully complete big projects such as building a marae, a wharekai, a wharenui, or a waka ama, or a waka hourua, establish a kohanga reo, or a kura kaupapa."

Whichever way you look at it, our kaiwhakahaere can take credit as the leader who brought this project to completion.

From The Press

"The new Christchurch civic building was given its new Maori name at a dawn blessing ceremony this morning. The building was named Te Hononga. The literal translation of Te Hononga is "the joining". The name was chosen to mark the deal between Ngai Tahu and the Christchurch City Council to build the new civic headquarters.

I'm not sure about PPP's but i am sure that we need more joining and working together, where the maori worldview is respected.

kaiwhakahaere - the role

The role of kaiwhakahaere has been debated at the table. The subject has also been discussed here with some very interesting comments.

I'd like to talk about the role without getting into personalities.

The role originally was some sort of chairperson but the reality is that the role is a lot more than that. For instance the kaiwhakahaere is the public face of the iwi – they front the media, the hui, the issues, on behalf of the iwi. The role is an iwi role and that is why I think we should consider electing a non-TRONT representative to the role.

The role of the TRONT rep is to represent their runaka at the table and also to collectivelly govern the protect the wider iwi interests. The role of the kaiwhakahaere is to represent the iwi. Currently the 18 Papatipu Runaka Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu representatives elect the kaiwhakahaere from amoungst their number. I am not sure, but i would imagine, that fufilling the role of runaka rep and kaiwhakahaere at the same time, may be too much for one person.

I don't think we would create some type of 'super-leader' who is above the iwi and does what they want – there are too many checks and balances and too many eyes watching for that to happen. What we would create is the description of a role and the personal qualities needed and then we would select the best candidate for that role. And by we I mean all the iwi. If the role is considered an iwi role then the iwi should determine who the successful candidate is. Imagine the candidates, or their proposers, putting forward their case. We would get some fantastic korero and discussion of issues – there would be no secrets or hidden agendas – because the words would be known.

Yes there would be issues – costs for instance, campaigns, lobbying, moneyed influencers, communication and so on but the role was developed to fit a pakeha paradigm and it is only just over 10 years old. It is time to have a good look at it, a least to investigate options.

The role is arguably the most important in the iwi. We have to have the very best person from our iwi to be in that role and i think we need to look wider than our reps.

Comments – I have a problem when others (who are not position holders) are named, especially family members. The only other issue for me is if I think the comment is or could potenially be legally dodgy.