Maniapoto members have been given an extra week to vote on whether they should allow the Maniapoto Maori Trust Board to negotiate the King Country tribe’s historic treaty settlement.

The board wants the mandate after a body set up to coordinate Waitangi Tribunal claims failed to win support to lead the next step in the process.

Trustee Haylee Putaranui says the fast track mandate process has raised a lot of questions, which the board will try to answer tonight through a live question and answer session on Facebook.

She says if the trust board doesn’t get the mandate, some other body will have to start from scratch, and it is hard to see who else will have the experience and credibility to manage the multi-year process.

"We are statute-bound to provide end to end transparency and accountability back to our people and that's one of the good reasons why the trust board is best placed to carry out this mahi. Because end to end through this process our obligations around transparency and accountability to our people do not go away," Ms Putaranui says.

Voting has been extended until November 4, but if people have any submissions on the mandate they need to get them in to the Office of Treaty Settlements by this Friday.

https://www.facebook.com/Maniapotomaoritrustboard/

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