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September 22, 2016
Ngapuhi greater than its hapu – Harawira
Waatea Team
Posted On September 22, 2016
Former Te Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira says efforts to shape the Ngapuhi settlement along hapu lines ignores tribal reality in the 21st century.
The Ngapuhi Runanga-backed body Tuhoronuku could lose its mandate to negotiate unless it accepts a crown-backed plan restructure to put subtribes in the driving seat.
Tuhoronuku says the new structure should have seats for the 85 percent of tribe members who live out of the rohe, and there should also be a settlement that maintains the unity of the wider iwi, rather than breaking it into individual taiwhenua or hapu deals.
Mr Harawira says that vision for Ngapuhi is at the heart of the argument, and there's more to the tribe than the members who live in the north.
"Our people live all over the world. We are a global nation. And if Ngapuhi is truly to be the open and vibrant and pulsing tribe it should be, there needs to be genuine recognition of how all of those people are going to be able to engage in the process, and you just can't say 'engage through your hapu. Most Ngapuhi don't know who their hapu is. Even some of those who live in Kaikohe don't know who their hapu is," he says.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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