Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 3, 1 March 1986 — Chairman's Removal [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Chairman's Removal

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawaii

It is in the best interest of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that Chairman Joseph Kealoha has stepped down. Although the State Ethics Commission has cleared Kealoha, they do admit "there is a strong appearanee of impropriety arising from Kealoha's role in land sale negotiations between Seibu and Maui property

owners" (in Makena) as quoted by the Honolulu Advertiser in its Saturday, Feb. 15 edition. The Ethics Commission review was narrow and limited in scope as they did no independent investigation of their own but based their ruling on information provided them primarily by Kealoha himself. There is a higher ethical question whieh the commission itself failed to address. We trustees must address the role eaeh plays protecting Hawaiian interests when private eoncerns interfere with official public responsibility. Is it appropriate to work with one who is an adversary to our granted beneficiaries, as was the case with Seibu, Ala Nui O Makena and Kealoha? The Hawaiian group was funded by OHA in August, 1985, while Chairman Kealoha was signed on by the developers, Seibu, the very next month.

This ho'oponopono (our traditional, psychological) process of "making things right" has been healthy, yet a disturbing experience for we trustees as well as you, our constituents. E kala mai ia'u, you deserve better, as a majority of our constituents struggle for survival. As it stands now, our constituents on Maui belonging to Ala Nui O Makena feel that they have no trustee on Maui representing their best interest. While they want to protect and preserve the aina makai-road at Makena, Kealoha is trying to get them to sell-out the aina to Seibu, Japanese developer.

Kamaki Kanahele, our new administrator, should be commended for wanting to elean up the lepo (dirt) of OHA's past so that we may go on to better the conditions of our people according to OHA's mandate. Though OHA has suffered from a laek of effective leadership these years, we trustees must ask ourselves during this time of transition what it takes to make a good chairperson and leader. We must first remember, we were elected to be advocates for justice, for our people are "strangers in our own home land" Though we be nine different trustees of varied background and eeonomie means, (and only one woman) we must remember that true advocates advocate (like lawyers) and apply pressure where necessary to improve "our peoples" conditions. We must produce to show our people we care, otherwise we have no business being in office. We are not here for personal gain!

As I have mentioned to you before, we could with the resources that could eventually eome to our people through OHA, have job training, education, housing, health services, cultural and other programs to help you and your ohana survive better. We could be helping Hawaiians get off of welfare. We must not allow individual's indiscretions to tarnish and cripple the good that OHA ean realistically do towards making conditions better for our people as we "elean house" and put this pilikea behind us and imua. We need new leadership with openness, vision, foresight and care for our aina and people. Malama pono. Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina ika pono.