October 03, 2018
Whakatōhea board tries to hold settlement together
ROBERT EDWARDS INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
The chair of the Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board Robert Edwards says the iwi needs to hold together to get a settlement of its historic treaty claims.
Robert Edwards has welcomed the results of an inquiry into the board that found while there had been some mistakes in the conduct of the last trust board elections, they were not serious enough to affect the outcome.
Divisions within the Eastern Bay of Plenty iwi flared up over efforts to get a speedy settlement of the claims after the tribe was sent to the back of the queue for rejecting a settlement 20 years ago.
He says while some hapū want to settle their own claims, the board believes in a united settlement.
"After all we all lost land, we all had tīpuna killed, we were all put on to the reservation, so we should move together and come out of the reservation and out into the world so to speak," Mr Edwards says.
He says the report on the trust board was a reminder that even though members were elected by their hapū, they were there to represent the whole iwi.
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