Ae Marika! 25 Feb 2014

Posted on February 25, 2014 by admin in Ae Marika

A column published in the Northland Age

By Hone Harawira
MP for Te Tai Tokerau
Leader of the MANA Movement

25 FEB 2014

In 2012 the Waitangi Tribunal ruled that the government had breached the Treaty of Waitangi by systemically failing to fund and support Kohanga Reo’s Maori language strategy; that it should apologise for its failings; and that it should appoint an independent adviser to oversee an urgent programme to overhaul policy, increase participation, improve quality, increase funding and provide the support necessary for upgrade and maintenance of Kohanga facilities.

With a ruling like that, the National Kohanga Reo Trust should have been really pumpin’ along, with fire in the belly and a vision for a new, more improved service for our tamariki.

Instead the Trust has spent the last 12 months (and a whole bucket load of money) trying, and failing, to deal with some very serious internal governance and management issues.

It all began with a spat between the Trust and it’s CEO which got public and nasty, and bloody expensive too when the Trust called in Mai Chen. That all blew up into a huge split in the Kohanga Reo Movement and a loss of faith in the leadership at the ground level.

Then word got out about how trustees had been appointed for life with no accountability back to Kohanga Reo.

Then Maori Television exposed improper credit card spending by Lynda Tawhiwhirangi, daughter-in-law of Kohanga Reo founder Iritana Tawhiwhirangi and manager of Te Pataka Ohanga (TPO), the commercial arm of the Trust. That forced the government to call for an independent audit into TPO’s expenditures.

Then we were told about low staff morale at the Trust and personal grievances being taken out by employees.

Then a couple of weeks ago we heard about the possibility of Lynda Tawhiwhirangi being paid out $400,000 as part of an exit package.

And now we hear that Druis Barrett has been sacked from the Board of TPO for daring to call for transparency on the whole proceedings, and suggesting that it might be time for new blood.

And the sad part is that this is all far from over.

And while all the big shots are focussing on saving their asses, they’re not focussing on the real issue – how to grow the kaupapa of whanau-led Kohanga Reo as the most positive strategy for the growth of Te Reo Maori.

I had hoped Iritana might be bold enough to say “Enough! This has been going on too long and regardless of who is right and who is wrong, this whole saga is dragging down Kohanga Reo. It’s time for a new team to take the kaupapa to the next level.”

Iritana is the founder of the Kohanga Movement and she is still the voice of the Movement. If she said enough, then change would happen straight away. If she doesn’t, I suspect it will happen anyway. All I hope is that our whanau keep the faith long enough for that positive future to take hold.

Ko te taonga o toku ngakau, ko taku mokopuna e …

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at mana.org.nz.