The late Tāmaki Makaurau MP
Takutai Tarsh Kemp was subjected to “the most despicable
behaviour” by Te Pāti Māori leadership, expelled Te Tai
Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris claims.
Takutai Tarsh Kemp,
who died in June, underwent treatment for kidney disease in
the first half of this year.
In an extended interview
with RNZ’s Mata programme, published on Tuesday, Ferris
claimed the leadership of Te Pāti Māori was trying to oust
Takutai Tarsh Kemp from her seat in the months leading up to
her death.
In response to this and other claims Ferris
made in the interview, Te Pāti Māori president John
Tamihere declined to comment on what he described as “any
matters based on hearsay, innuendo, accusation or
insinuation”.
Alleged treatment of ailing
MP
In June, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
served out a two-week suspension from Parliament’s debating
chamber as punishment for performing a haka.
Ferris
said the co-leaders were completely absent from Parliament
in this period, leaving the remaining four MPs to take on
the full weight of the party’s responsibilities.
In
that period, the MPs agreed an intervention was needed to
raise their concerns with the coleaders, but Kemp passed
away before that could happen, he said.
And when Kemp
passed, a decision was made to take her body to the West
Auckland marae, Hoani Waititi, without her parents
knowledge. Instead, Ferris said, they learned about it via
the radio.
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A spokesperson for the Te Pāti Māori
co-leaders said “hearsay or speculation” should be directed
to Tamihere for a response.
Bullying
allegations
Ferris claimed the leadership had shown a
pattern of bullying his female colleague.
After Kemp’s
death, Oriini Kaipara won a byelection to replace her as
Tāmaki Makaurau MP. Ferris said it had been agreed with
Kaipara she could bring her own team onto the Tāmaki
Makaurau electorate committee if she won the byelection. But
that has not happened – a reflection of the existing
committee “bullying” and “standing over” her, Ferris
said.
He claimed the current committee was undermining
Kaipara’s credibility as an MP in order to retain the voting
power of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Ferris said a “reset hui”
was staged on a day that Oriini Kaipara and her whānau
should have been celebrated.
‘Ceasefire’ hui went
awry
According to Ferris, at a three-hour meeting
where a ceasefire was called, everyone agreed except the
president John Tamihere. He claimed Tamihere instead
threatened the Kapa-Kingi family with utu.
Mariameno
Kapa-Kingi, who earlier this month was expelled from the
party, called the hui for the six MPs to work through
issues, Ferris said. But days before, the makeup of the hui
changed and the executive council attended, including
Tamihere.
Expulsion, aftermath and the
future
Ferris said he learnt about his expulsion when
he was at a tangi and called the leadership a “pack of
mugs”.
He still considers himself a member of Te Pāti
Māori because the process they used was not robust, he
claimed. He said he feels aroha for the party’s staffers who
he claimed are burnt out because of underperforming
leaders.
Te Pāti Māori was obviously suffering
reputation damage, and it needed to stop, he
said.
Last week, Ferris said he wrote an appeal to the
national council to make space to share his, KapaKingi and
Kaipara’s position but it was completely ignored.
It
was back in the people’s hands now to save the Te Pāti
Māori Kaupapa, he said.
Mata contacted members of the
executive council for comment but only received a short
response from
Tamihere.
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