October 16, 2013
Minister missing as Kohanga crashes
Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is accused of being asleep at the wheel while the kohanga reo movement has crashed off the road.
Labour’s Maori affairs spokesperson Shane Jones says revelations about credit card spending by trustee Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi and her daughter in law Lynda Tawhiwhirangi are symptomatic of an organisation that has lost its way.
He says kohanga reo needs a shake up if it is to get back on the track of making sure the next generation of Maori can speak te reo Maori, but that won’t happen when the minister and the Maori Party refuse to speak up when things go wrong in Maoridom.
"Dr Sharples has been asleep at the wheel. He has been the most dilatory minister of Maori affairs in recent political history. No one wants to see Dame Iritana and our other matua suffer embarrassment and humiliation but let me tell you, I have been there, and I think the Kohanga leadership need to front up. Mayor Brown was capable of fronting up. I had to front up. And when you don’t feel accountable, I presume you don’t feel the obligation to front up," Mr Jones says.
He says the credit card issues can probably be tidied up easily, but evolving the kohanga reo to meet current and future conditions will be harder.
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