Listen Now: 
Parliament is winding up for the year today, and one of its last acts will be to pass a bill settling a 150 year injustice.
The Mokomoko (Restoration of Character, Mana and Reputation) Bill updates the terms of the 1992 pardon given to the Whakatohea rangatira, who was tried and executed in 1866 for the murder of missionary Carl Sylvius Volkner near Opotiki.
Mokomoko maintained his innocence throughout the trial, but his descendants have been carrying the stain of the accusation, which was used to justify the confiscation of the tribe’s lands.
National list MP Claudette Hauti says the 1992 pardon was issued without consultation with the whanau, and the new bill should remedy the situation.
"Like a lot of these treaty settlements, it’s not full and final in terms of the emotional hurt that has been suffered by our iwi but it gives some redress and some recognition to allow whanau to move forward, and indeed the country as well too," she says.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
RELATED NEWS
