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Members of Te Kotahitanga o Nga Hapu o Ngapuhi are pointing the finger at the crown over the failure of a process aimed at creating an agreed structure to negotiate the northern tribe’s treaty settlement.
Tuhoronuku, which holds the mandate to negotiate the claims, last week agreed to strengthen hapu representation while still having seats for Ngapuhi living in the cities.
Te Kotahitanga opposes urban seats.
Its co-chair, Peter Tipene, says the decision breached guarantees given by crown facilitator Nigel Fyfe during the six-month engagement process and he’s blaming the Treaty Negotiations Minister.
"The Crown and Chris Finlayson have been complicit in all this. In fact they've been driving it and I even think Tuhoronuku's hands have been held around this which is why the resolution came out late last week. Tuhoronuku was going to take a certain direction and to hell with the hapu of Ngapuhi," he says.
Tuhoronuku spokesperson Moana Tuwhare says the submissions from urban Ngapuhi on the draft Maranga Mai report overwhelmingly called for separate representations to look out for their interests in any settlement.
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