Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 1, 1 January 1987 — Openness and Unity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Openness and Unity

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawaii

This holiday season we have mueh to be thankful for in the Hawaiian eommunity. We have five new trustees. Two At-Large Trustees, A. Frenchy DeSoto and Rod Burgess, have served in the past. We also have "new blood" in Trustees Manu Kahaialii from Maui; Kevin "Chubby" Mahoe, At-

large; and Clarence F. T. Ching,Oahu. Congratulations to all five, as well as to new Chairperson Moses Keale of Kaua'i and Vice-Chairperson Louis Hao of Moloka'i. There is great hope for this new board. For the first time in six years, there appears to be signs of genuine openness and unity amongst the trustees. Pray to aumakua it continues. At our first business meeting Dec. 12, the Board of Trustees renewed the contract for our administrator, Kamaki Kanahele, for two more years whieh was positive as he has been doing a good job, The Office of Hawaiian Affairs' first management audit has just been completed. It deals with the mechanics and functioning of the office though not its financing. The financial aspects of OHA are dealt with in our annual financial audit. There are some good recommendations about internal office affairs. However, we must remember that this audit was done by a mainland firm and not one Hawaiian was a part of the audit team; so there was a certain laek of sensitivity from a Hawaiian standpoint. There was also misinformation that ended up in the audit about Trustees' selection of our administrator. These audit errors ended up on the front page of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the editorial eolumn of the Honolulu Advertiser. True, we may have a bit of an image problem, but we don't need that exaggeration by auditors' mistakes and laek of gathering the right information. /nifia//y, in our selection committee's

search for an administrator, years o/ experience were considered comparable to bachelor's, masters, or Ph.D. degrees. This management audit did not seem to know the difference between Alu Like, a federally funded non-profit organization; the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, government appointed; and OHA Trustees, who are elected and accountable to you, the Hawaiian people. This document also attempts to philosophically direct and inhibit trustees' actions, whieh is an attempt to emasculate the board, making trustees powerless. Powerless, we ean do you no good, though there are those who would prefer that for our people. However, OHA's mandate is to help better Hawaiian conditions and that must be the priority. Justice shall prevail! lt is up to us, the elected trustees, to take and use from the audit that whieh is positive and throw out the opala. This audit is not to be considered edict but should be a tool, not master, to OHA. All of these variables and factors coming into play will add to OHA's mueh needed evolutionary growth and effectiveness. Our people's problems are many and OHA ean and must make a difference. What the audit doesn't understand is that we Hawaiians are trying to rebound after being relegated to a subordinate role in modern Hawaiian history. Now that we have a new Hawaiian governor, hopefully there will be more compassion for justice and fairness from this state government. So we end the old year and imua into the new — in a more optimistic direction for the future. The Native Hawaiian Land Task Force is sponsoring a Native Hawaiian Nation constitutional convention Jan. 15-18 at Malia Puka 'O Kalani Church. Mueh mahalo for the kokua given by parishioners of this church in Keaukaha. There is historical significance about Jan. 17 because it marks the anniversary when our beloved queen was removed from directing the destiny of our nation. This Hawaiian constitution will help us to gain justice for our Hawaiian people. For more on this eoneon, refer to another story elsewhere in this issue. Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.