A controversial report is calling for the
structure of Te Runanga o Ngati Awa (TRONA) to be reviewed.
The suggestion was noted in a report from
the audit committee but was overshadowed by the revelation that there had been
a serious issue around a conflict of interest. The report stated that a
director of the runanga’s financial arm, Ngati Awa Gro up Holdings Ltd (NAGHL),
had faciliatated a business deal with a company where he was also a director.
Written as a result of an audit into the
organisation’s financial accounts by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the report was
signed off by the then-chairman of the runanga’s Audit committee, Waaka Vercoe.
Today, in a bid to add context, I propose
to discuss the structure of the runanga. It was outlined by the runanga chief
executive Enid Ratahi-Pryor at the meeting with Ngati Hokopu at Wairaka last
month and I believe that to have a better understanding of some of the things
that are going on in the runanga we must discuss it here.
At the head of the organization is the
TRONA board with 22-members elected by the hapu of Ngati Awa. A chairman is selected
to represent the board and in this case this is Te Kei Merito from Poroporo.
Mrs Ratahi-Pryor said she works very
closely to Mr Merito.
“Your link is through the board. (Chairman)
Te Kei Merito is my boss. I actually link directly to Te Kei. Initially I
didn’t have a link to the hapu but im going to change that.”
To the side is the financial arm of the
runanga, NAGHL, which is charged with managing the financial assets of the
tribe and “creating wealth”.
Every year NAGHL give TRONA a $1.5 million dividend
to help develop social initiatives such as education grants and iwi development.
NAGHL is governed by a board of five
directors including Jo Mason, Waaka Vercoe, Graham Pryor, Brian Tunui. Former
civil servant Wira Gardiner chairs the board.
According to Mrs Ratahi-Pryor beneath these
two structures are several boards.
The executive committee made up by Mr
Merito and board members Pouroto Ngaropo and Materoa Dodd.
Remuneration is Mr Merito and Mr Ngaropo
along with the chief executive and board member Regina O’Brien.
The group charged with the organisation’s
investments is new NAGHL director Brian Tunui and the man who helped facilitate
the deal with CO2 New Zealand Management company, Graham Pryor. Civil servant
Kay Read was recently appointed to the investment committee as the third
member.
Mrs Ratahi-Pryor said Mrs Read’s
appointment was in the interest of succession-planning but did not expand on
how the selection was made.
And finally the Audit Committee which is made
up by board representatives Charlie Elliot and Mrs O’Brien, two representatives
from PWC and independent member Peter Taylor. The committee was chaired by
Waaka Vercoe, however he was recently replaced by Mr Tunui.
Mrs Ratahi-Pryor said this was because Mr
Vercoe was old and getting tired.
“He
decided it is time for a change. It is time for new blood.”
Mrs Ratahi-Pryor, herself, is the chief executive
of TRONA and NAGHL. The two roles were amalgamated under previous chief executive,
Tiaki Hunia, who held the position for three months before he quit and Mrs
Ratahi-Pryor was appointed.
And while many of the “bad” investments
were made under another chief executive Jeremy Gardiner we must remember that
before she took on her current role Mrs Ratahi-Pryor was a TRONA board member
and a NAGHL director.
According to other board members Mrs
Ratahi-Pryor was an active member of the board and the minutes of previous
meeting shows she was often vocal in meetings.
With this in mind, shifting the blame for
poor decisions is simply not feasible. Sure most of the bad investments were
made under the previous chief executives particularly Mr Gardiner jnr but Mrs
Ratahi-Pryor was part of the decision-making team and surely she must accept
responsibility for this as much as anyone else?
Whether she was incompetent or ignorant it
simply does not matter because as philosopher Edmund Burke said: ‘All that is
necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’.
And that is why I started this blog.
It wasn’t to personally attack anyone. I do
not have any personal agenda and I will not share my opinions about personal
lives unless it affects the operations of the tribe.
But I will no longer sit back and do
nothing about what I think is a very serious situation. As I have said before,
I believe my role is to provide as much information as I can so that you can
make your own informed decisions.
Elections for the TRONA board are this year
and we have an opportunity to let our leaders know what we think.
And while I am delighted that many of you
have chosen to share your opinions and thoughts I am disappointed that some of
the comments have taken to slandering others without much proof. While some of
the statements are probably true, the anonymous nature of the poster makes it
unfair on those who are being targeted.
Many of you have noticed that I have chosen
to use my real name, I have not hidden behind a pseudonym or remained anonymous,
and as part of that I must be confident that the information I choose to share
on here is correct and that I can back it up if I need to.
And I am confident that every statement of
fact that I have made on this blog can be backed up with documents or through
other people’s evidence.
So whanau, continue to share your thoughts
but please ensure that you maintain a healthy respect for each other.
Heoi ano, next week I am hoping to confirm
the story behind the change in the people on the audit committee.
Ma te wa.
