March 24, 2014
Kohanga koha an unconditional gift
Kohanga Reo Trust spokesperson Derek Fox says the person who received a $50,000 koha for their contribution to the trust’s Waitangi Tribunal Claim, didn’t ask for or want the money.
The trust was criticised by independent reviewer Ernst & Young for not reporting the payment as a related party transaction in its annual accounts, but said the board had the authority to make it.
Mr Fox says the trust doesn’t have to say who it went to, and reporting on it has shown a woeful ignorance of tikanga Maori.
"The person actually didn’t want the koha and said so, but the board members, every one of them, said ‘No, we believe you should take this and it’s not just for you, it’s for your husband who has had to put up with you over the last few months or whatever it was and the kids and all that.’ And what is a koha? A koha is an unconditional gift for something which is so worthy for which the people are extraordinarily grateful," he says.
Maori Television has reported the koha was made to trust co-chair Tina Olsen Ratana.
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