May 03, 2023
Road trip unsuccessful in preventing Meka Whaitiri from leaving
Kiritapu Allan a longtime friend and caucus colleague of Meka Whaitiri took an estimated 10-hour return car trip to get to the bottom of the MP for Ikaroa-Rawhiti’s resignation.
In a shock move, Meka Whaitiri who has held the seat since 2013, announced this morning that she will be joining Te Pāti Māori as its Ikaroa-Rawhiti candidate in this year’s election.
It appears that Meka Whaitiri had stopped communicating with her colleagues, even failing to show at the launch of Te Ara Matua fronted by Minister Kelvin Davis just last week in Hastings at Waipatu Marae.
In a last ditch effort to reach out, the Labour caucus sent Kiritapu Allan to hui-kōrero a kānohi with Meka Whaitiri.
The pair have been friends for over two decades. However, Minister Allan, would not divulge the details of their kōrero.
Speaker Adrian Rurawhe has told MPs this afternoon that Whaitiri, the MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, will be sitting as an independent MP.
Whaitiri’s communication to him did not meet all the requirements to trigger the waka-jumping legislation when she quit Labour earlier today, he said. He has not detailed how this happened, however.