November 19, 2019
Mangu strikes first in leadership stoush
New Ngāpuhi chair Mere Mangu has sidestepped a leadership challenge by asking the courts to clarify what the rūnanga constitution says about leadership.
Ms Mangu expected a challenge as she went into Friday’s first full meeting of the rūnanga board since the sudden resignation of Raniera Tau last month, and preceding Saturday’s annual general meeting.
But with conflicting legal opinions about whether she was merely an acting chair or if she has the full powers of the chair for the remaining year of Mr Tau’s term, she struck first.
“At the board meeting I did serve my fellow trustees with court papers and one of them is to sort out the chairmanship and the other thing is to ensure we have a review carried out, a comprehensive review that will cover the organisation, the finances and the constitution itself,” Ms Mangu says.
Such a review should be standard practice when an organisation changes its longstanding leadership, but the other trustees wanted to hold off for 6 months.
Te Rūnanga a Iwi o Ngapuhi reported a $2.1 million surplus in the year to June 30 and an increase in assets to $60 million, the bulk of them connected to its fisheries settlement.
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