Thursday, 12 March 2009

TENSIONS OVER NGAI TAHU OFFICIALS CONTINUE

We posted this yesterday . It was sent out by Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu ( TRONT) to all Runanga by CE Angus Goodall . It was about that fact that the Rapaki runanga( Ngati Wheke) no longer considered deputy chairman( kaiwhakhaere) of Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu as their representative.



There has been a number of questions directed to the Office recently with
respect to the position of Donald Couch, the Deputy Kaiwhakahaere. There
has also been speculation in the media that Donald had been removed as the
Representative for Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke. Being mindful of the legal
obligations and the potential legal liabilities associated with this matter, we
are currently in the process of taking formal advice. Until that
advice is received and a decision upon it can be made, Te Rūnanga's secretariat
is of the view that Donald Couch remains the Representative for Te Hapū o Ngāti
Wheke and that he also continues to hold the role of Deputy Kaiwhakahaere. This
is consistent with the position that Te Rūnanga has taken in the past in similar
situations. Noho ora mai.


Today we received three copies of this letter that Rapaki sent to Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu CE Angus Goodall.

Tutehounuku Korako

Anake, tena ra koe,

Ko tenei te reo poroaki ki a ratou kua whetu rakitia, ratou nga kahuiwhetu i te raki, eokie koutou e. Ratou te hunga wairua kia ratou, tatou nga urupa kanohi o ratou ma ki a tatou, nei nga mihi.

Firstly, we note your response to all of Ngai Tahu Whanui regarding the removal of Donald Couch as the Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu (TRONT) Representative from Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga and we are concerned that such a memo was sent when there had been no direct communication from you, or the Office, with the Chair of Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga. We believe this is remarkably disrespectful and politically motivated.

Secondly, Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga is in no doubt who now represents our Runanga at TRONT. Donald Couch’s term as Representative expired some time ago and, although he remained in that position, it was at the discretion Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga. On March 1 at the General Runanga Meeting at Te Wheke Marae, Rapaki, Donald Couch resigned from his position as Chair and was removed as our TRONT Representative. As per the Charter of TRONT we have notified TRONT that our Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga Representative, Donald Couch, has ceased to hold office.

We are not aware of any provision that would allow the Office of TRONT to not recognise the receipt of that notice and the acceptance of Donald Couch’s removal. It is our view that it is incumbent upon TRONT to recognise the tino rangatiratanga of Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga and any legal advice or challenge regarding his removal is a Papatipu Runanga matter and will be dealt with accordingly at that level.

As Donald Couch is no longer our Representative then, as per the Charter, the Alternate Representative, Kopa Lee, now becomes the Representative and he will be attending all future TRONT meetings as the Representative for Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga.

We also note that the TRONT Representatives for Moeraki, Waihao, Taumutu and Tuahiwi have all been appointed to TRONT in a similar fashion with full acceptance by TRONT.

It is the intention of Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga to hold a properly constituted election as soon as possible.

Heoi ano

Tutehounuku Korako

Chairman

Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga




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Posted by euminedes at 6:23 pm
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11 comments:

Lucy said...

Please help me I am confused. Is this the 'way of Maori'? or is it a few 'chancers' trying to gain control and using maori protocols inapprpriately?

12 March 2009 at 19:20
euminedes said...

bloody good question lucy. Basically the 18 runanga - the area councils elect a rep to sit at the table - the tribal governing council. So the tribal council vote to get rid of Wally. The people get really grumpy. Donald Couch was the deputy of the tribal council - but his area council calls a meeting and he goes.
The Tribal council says there are doubts over process. The area council thinks there are no issues and they have made decision they think the tribal council should respect. Its about governance , andpower and its bloody sad.

12 March 2009 at 19:57
Anonymous said...

This chancer I hear worked for Ngai Tahu Holding Corp. Does anyone know if he did or does? I think he is one of the well paid consultants.

12 March 2009 at 22:08
Anonymous said...

Nuk turns up with a posse led by the Rep for Waewae and attempts to wrangle Donald out of office. He forgot to read the rules - or is arrogant enough to think that the rules of the runanga don't count? Anyway - when someone points out that this is not the wild west he just stamps his feet like a spoilt child. Not leadership material imho.

The good people of Rapaki, as opposed to the rentacrowd, may well wish to follow due process and remove our representative and to elect a new chair person (or not)who knows. The problem for now is that we agreed to some pesky rules a while back and until they are changed we are bound to follow them.

There is a postal ballot coming up. Maybe Nuk should put his name forward here. Or maybe he thinks he has a better show at Tuahiwi? Or maybe he will have no show once everyone gets to know him better.

So for now Nuk the pretender to the throne is not in fact chair of our runanga and Donald is in fact still our Rep.

As for BB, for someone looking to expose the truth you obviously can't see the wood for the trees.

Have you asked any of the folks who voted to get rid of Wally what the issues were?

Are you confident the posse that wants to depose Mark and Donald so they can seize control of the tribal assets have the sort of impeccable credentials we can trust?

13 March 2009 at 00:48
Anonymous said...

The following are excerpts written by "Hemi" on the Ngai Tahu Shareholders Site. I thought they were so so good that they should be noted under this Post. Thank you Hemi.

"There are many untold stories in this sorry saga. Most are best left untold.
The good news is that there are a number of ethical representatives who don’t carry tales to the papers and who are slowly but surely cleaning up some very unsavoury situations that have existed for some time now. They are looking to improve accountabilty and transparency of both Te Runanga and NTHC.

No more secret contracts for the favoured few. Te Runanga already reports on the contractors working for them. Maybe HC will do the same under the new regime.

No more politcally motivated “runanga development projects” where there is no accountability. The Office has almost every item of expenditure examined. Maybe HC will do better under the new regime.

Hopefully no more paying out unjustified and exhorbitant exit packages although there is probably a new queue forming. These are always the subject of confidentiality agreements. Here is hoping both TR and HC get this under control.

Whenever you see a runanga chair complaining about something Te Runanga has done and lamenting the recent changes, have a long think about why that might be. Why do they complain against openness and transparency? What are their ambitions? Just how many of them fancy being the Kaiwhakahaere?

So beware of those who come to your runanga and tell you that you need to replace the Reps who are doing the cleanup job. Could it be that they want a return to the bad old days? In other words - ask them outright what is in it for them?" - Good on you Hemi.

As for me:
I am also interested to know is: Tutehounuku Korako
Chairman
Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke (Rapaki) Runanga

one of those highly paid consultants engaged by Wally Stone to further assist the ambitions of some?

Send him back to Tuahiwi I say.

13 March 2009 at 01:34
Anonymous said...

what's with the Angus Goodall. Isn't his name Anake?

13 March 2009 at 01:40
Anonymous said...

Agree with the arrogance of the person calling himself the Chairman of Rapaki - not.
Watch him run a mile he can't take real pressure.

13 March 2009 at 01:48
Unknown said...

Nuk is a well repected business man in his own right and certainly not of the low calibre of the 11 table members who are holding the tribe to ransom to protect the pay packet of Solomon.

Gutter politics is what these people and their misguided supporters use. The question to ask is; who has authority over regional (area) councils? It is the constituency the people who whakapapa to that region and therefore are entilted to go to meetings and vote. If they vote to remove someone then that is their decision, thats democarcy.

The bigger issue the one the tribe seem to be taking their attention off is when are the 18 tribal council members going to run democratic elections? Is all of this debacle to halt elections yet again? Is this the only way the 11 will keep their seats by continuing to stall the process?

13 March 2009 at 07:27
Anonymous said...

Nuk says he is the Chair

Nuk says Donald has been removed (and bugger the rules)

Nuk says he did not get any letter in response

well it must all be true - because Nuk has said it is so and BB has published it

and BB says "the people get really grumpy" when wally was removed - the grumpy ones might be grumpy but the question is why are they grumpy

perhaps they are grumpy because they see the gravy train has been derailed and they are upset

openness and transparency makes it hard to hide the fact that some of the grumpy ones were doing very nicely over the last wee while and some were looking forward to doing nicely in the future

and if they get their way by spreading lies and deceit they may well get back to a place where they control the cheque books

some have already been in charge of the tribal chequebooks...

but as Hemi says "some stories are best left untold" or are they?

13 March 2009 at 07:39
Anonymous said...

So Nuk is a well respected business man in his own right.

I guess if Nuk says it is so then it must be so. Everyone should make their own inquiries and make up their minds on facts not just because someone on a blog says it is so.

I wonder who it was who put a spoke in the wheel of the Rapaki postal voting process. Was it Donald? No it was Nuk armed with bad advice from yet another paid contractor from NTHC.

Anyone see the pattern emerging.

13 March 2009 at 07:54
Anonymous said...

THIS STUFF IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW. Once again taken from Ngai Tahu Shareholders Website. It should be named as the Ngai Tahu Contact point by the way. Thanks Ann. We are getting there as to the truth of the matters. Please take heed BB /Roar Prawn given where your slant is I know that you are either not privy to the real plan or you support it, hope it's not the latter as we need sites like yours to provide communications.

Anne says:
" Ann Says:
March 14th, 2009 at 2:35 am

To think we have had these paragons of virtue held up as Ngai Tahu tribal leaders over the last few weeks.

These posers just want their hands on tribal cash and they want to control it all and we should not tolerate it.

Tahu was sent packing as CEO. But only after he caused havoc. Same dodgy behind the scenes plotting and scheming to control NTHC and the table.

Same players including the former Chair of NTHC. They were thick as thieves when Tahu was CEO and tried to control the tribe by taking away the voices of the runanga. Remember the interim Group Board and the plans to have a permanent group board?

Wally and Tahu were to have full control over assets and cash. When they were in charge they argued for no separation between wealth creation and spending. As soon as they are not in full charge they argue the opposite.

Tahu worked to deliberately silence the voices of the runanga by sidelining the Representatives when he was CEO and now they say that the voice of the runanga are not being heard.

Now they are in control at runanga level they say they have no voice. What they mean is they got used to the sound of their own voices and they have mistaken that for the voice of the runanga and even more arrogantly as the voices of the tribe.

It is time we went home to our maraes and send these guys packing. They are in it for themselves and not for the people."
I say:
There are few more devious people driving this campaign who when the new & newish so called young guns/leaders have been put through the sieve and put back out to pasture for a while, will I hope eventually be exposed.

Very, very sad that the plight of our people prior to the settlement of our claim in some respects has been lost(and not a great deal of progress - well we knew it would take a generation) for the time being while all of this rubbish gets dealt with.

The Leadership of Mark Solomon is NOT what all of this is about. Of course Mark has his human frailties as we all do, WHO ELSE Raw Prawn/BB would you suggest if you are so opposed to Mark? Let us know and allow us to debate that kaupapa. You say you are well connected so tell us who you think.
noho ora mai.

14 March 2009 at 10:37

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