WE NEED TRUTH AND STEEL BALLS

This post is from a grumpy old woman rankling over corporate incompetence and corruption, enabled by executive greed and cowardice. The very first of the pearls of corruption seeded in ‘93. The young Lambcut was a Fortex shareholder/supplier. At the same time, on the other side of the world, Enron’s criminal executives were lying to their corrupt and incompetent Board. At the end, what was left of the Enron executive collapsed into self serving chaos, and the traders took over, picking clean the chewed bones of shareholder and employee money. That’s who really paid. So, we had a big re-jig of the governance and reporting rules. Did it work? Like fuck it did.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, regular folks responsible for the vast bulk of New Zealand’s foreign currency returns, suffered death by a thousand cuts from over regulation at the hands of the Clark government. The noble and necessary convention of free and frank advice, steel balls stuff, got lost in the ensuing genteel over feminised ether. Executive and bureaucratic cowardice increased. So here we all are watching the financial Zeppelin go down. And, ohhh the humanity. Who pays now? You and me, amigo, that’s who, along with millions of even less fortunate sods elsewhere.

It’s not that the corporates don’t deserve a piano wire noose of regulation to tighten viciously around their selfish little necks. It’s just that, if that was the reaction, you and me, amigo be rest assured we would pay for it yet again.

And we could all smell the stink of well paid executive and bureaucratic cowardice that still hung heavy in corridors of public and private power. If an executive or bureaucrat was not happy with governance and reporting lines, they could easily move from one lucrative job to another leaving the unpalatable wiff of fetid financials behind. No family or personal commitments were jeopardised by a sideways move in a buoyant market.It was roses all roses.

Notwithstanding this, there is shadowy, and not so shadowy evidence of shonky governance and reporting generated in happier times, now surfacing all through the current financial Armageddon. Overseas, breathtaking executive salaries are still being paid in the face of the corporate collapses, books overcooked to crispy, and the trading floor still is a headless chookery.

We are not much better in the antipodes, just smaller, so the sums are a bit less breathtaking.

Our severely contracted job market is unlikely to inspire executive courage in all but a few with titanium testicles, but, if there was ever a time for scrupulous and stalwart reporting, its now. Gird your loins ladies and gentlemen. Show some courage. Don’t let your Chief bullshit the Board. Don’t allow your name to appear on dishonest or manipulative board papers. Now is the time for financial integrity. In the land of shiny arses and in the land of shiny cars.

NGAI TAHU LEADERSHIP FOUND WANTING

Today we fear for our people. Ngai Tahu is in turmoil. Our phone has been ringing hot from people within the tribe and from those who have worked alongside Wally Stone who heads the tribes commercial arm known as Ngai Tahu Holdings.

Wally was ousted over the weekend by Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu board the tribes governing body. The vote was 11- 7 by the runanga ( regional councils) representatives to the Board. The tribe has been been split for sometime over issues of financial prudence and governance. Essentially, some at the "Table," as the Board is known, want a greater say in the running of the Ngai Tahu Holdings - the tribes commercial holding tank.

The 11 members of the board who voted to oust Wally Stone, nationally regarded as one of our finest entrepreneurs who also commanded wide respect for his financial management, have also voted in principal to spend $52 million on the House of Tahu - a glorified concrete monument to the extreme egos that dominate the " Table."

In the days coming we will reveal the way that the ousting was carried out - it was neither honourable or just. Integrity and honesty were the first victims. The Kaikoura runanga chairman is reported as being gobsmacked. Their representative at the table is chair Mark Solomon. So the actions of the tribal board members is at odds with their own people.

It is a travesty that Ngai Tahu, a tribe that has won national and international acclaim for its growth of assets and stewardship of social programmes, that have made a real difference to so many rank and file iwi members, is now riven by the soul consuming desire by some to create a concrete legacy in the commercial jungle of Christchurch. At issue is the need to borrow millions to complete the House of Tahu. At a time when leadership is required and caution should prevail, Ngai Tahu's anointed ones have been found wanting.

Last year the tribe came extraordinarily close to ripping itself apart over similar issues of financial prudence and governance. In the next few days, we think that this issue will be a touch paper for the tribe. What is needed is all Ngai Tahu to stand up and say no. They have the power to do that via their runanga.

The current so called "leaders" of the tribe should hang their heads in shame that a good man and a brave man has been cast a side in a sad, sad egoistic show of might. What those "leaders" have proved is that the tribe is in sore need of men and women who make decisions that are in the best interests, not of themselves but of the people they serve.

It is a day of great mateatea for our people. ( embarrassment and disgrace) but it must not go unchallenged.