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A tribal negotiator has endorsed a claim that some iwi are distorting customary concepts like mana whenua to give themselves a large share of settlements.
Willie Te Aho says his own experience tallies with Dr Rapata Wiri’s paper in the journal AlterNative describing the treatment of Ngāti Manawa in the Treelord settlement of the Central North Island forestry claims.
He says the Karapiro-based iwi Ngāti Koroki Kahukura faced similar challenges, with the late Wally Papa having to defend its position against the pressure from Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato-Tainui.
”It’s been hard yakka dealing with the bigger iwi that see you as being a hapū of them and it’s always a struggle. To be honest, it’s a force of personality. It’s walking the talk, it’s ensuring that you fight on every front and it is the only way you are going to ensure that your iwi gets the recognition that it deserves,” he says.
Willie Te Aho says the Central North Island consortium, which he is involved in on behalf of Te Arawa, hopes to complete the mana whenua land allocation process this year.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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