Tuwhenuaroa
Natanahira, Māori news journalist
The
chairperson of Te Rūnanga Ā Iwi o Ngāpuhi says he is
“extremely disheartened” by Te Pāti Māori declining an
invitation to meet with Te Tai Tokerau
voters.
Rūnanga chair Mane Tahere had invited the
national executive of Te Pāti Māori to attend a
face-to-face hui at Kohewhata Marae in Kaikohe this Sunday
to discuss the expulsion
of Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and what the
strategy for the electorate would be heading into next
year’s general election.
Te Pāti Māori declined
Tahere’s invitation, saying in a letter they had been
advised by “multiple rangatira of Te Tai Tokerau” not to
attend “at this time”.
The letter said the party was
also dealing with some legal proceedings and had been
advised that attending may be seen as “interfering with that
process”.
“We acknowledge and appreciate the intention
behind your invitation and remain committed to the wellbeing
of our people and to appropriate kōrero at the right time
and in the right way,” the letter said.
In a response
sent out on Thursday, Tahere said the national executive’s
absence would send a loud message about how Te Pāti Māori
values its northern voter base.
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“At present, it
appears that value is very little.
“I cannot accept
the reasons given for your non-attendance. My invitation
made it absolutely clear that this hui would be held under
tikanga on the marae, a setting that Te Pāti Māori, of all
political movements, should instinctively understand,
respect, and be guided by.”
Tahere said claiming
multiple Te Tai Tokerau rangatira advised them not to attend
did not stack up with the personal conversations he had
leading up to the hui.
“I have spoken with many
rangatira across Te Tai Tokerau who recognise the importance
of this hui for our whānau and who believe firmly that Te
Pāti Māori must be present, because showing up is who we
are as iwi Māori.”
Speaking to RNZ, Tahere said more
than 10,000 people voted for Mariameno Kapa-Kingi to be
their MP, another 7000 gave their party vote to Te Pāti
Māori and a few hundred were registered to attend the
weekend’s hui.
“We are not hillbillies sitting up here
with pitchforks. We’re a mature lot, many of our Ngāpuhi
people are quite on to it.
“The whole point of the
programme was for whānau and even Whāea Mariameno to have
their kōrero and to ‘hohou te rongo’ because we were cut
out of much of the decision-making about our own candidate –
we still have that mamae (pain) as voters in that it’s just
off-kilter.”
He said the way Kapa-Kingi was expelled
from the party was “un-Māori” and it “glaringly obvious”
the national executive was following “Pākehā
ture”.
“A hui at the marae can break through all of
that.”
Despite the no-show, Tahere said the hui would
still go ahead and the door would be open for Te Pāti
Māori to attend.
“I was also encouraged by the
positivity coming out from many of the attendees and whānau
I’ve spoken to about being strategic, having some outcome
that is focused on us as a people and being collective and
united.
“You go through some riri, but you also come
out with ‘ko puawai tēnei, he mea rawa mō te iwi’… the
pressure should be put on them so that they reconsider and
turn up.”
Tahere said Te Tai Tokerau represented a key
electorate for Te Pāti Māori and not turning up on Sunday
could spell disaster for the party at next year’s
election.
“Everybody will be assessing the political
structuring of ‘where to next’, whether it’s Labour or New
Zealand First… the Te Pāti Māori voters, I would say,
from what I’ve been hearing, are very much
hōhā.
“This could be the make-or-break, and, perhaps
by not turning up, political suicide for Te Pāti
Māori.”
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