Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 1, 1 January 1998 — 'People who are not governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'People who are not governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.'

— William Penn HAVE BEEN DEEPLY puzzled. Are we reorganized or disorganized? Every reorganization of the board is a major set back to all beneficiaries — this I know. This reorganization occurred when a new majority became dissatisfied with the movements of the presiding chair. The new majority feels it ean manage the affairs of the office in a better or more streamlined fashion. Every "take-over" means starting from square one. All previous aeīion items and beneficiary requests sitting on the table are now scrutinized and handled with no credit given to the previous majority for the work it performed. A few requests will make it through, but deadlines may not be met. The new majority is just that

— new! While they test eaeh other out and take on the job of "housecleaning," everything changes. $625,000 has been spent to boost the operations of the office. This is a lot of money — money that could have been spent on education, housing and elderly programs. I feel we could have retrained or offered advanced computer classes in-house to our present staff bringing them to the level we have now attained. Creating more positions is not the answer. It's a band-aid solution. A trustee should not assume that every new employee will automatically understand the needs or politics of the

oniee. we neea to start an onentation program that would satisfy both the employees and trustees' expectations. We must give Mr. Ogata, our new administrator, time to learn his duties and adjust to working for nine bosses.

We should not ostracize him, we should guide him and show faith in his eompetence to do his job. I sit with the minority and we have little to do. Our input and votes are not important to the majority. Everything is decided before the meetings even start. Case in point: On Dec. 10, a meeting of the Committee of the Whole was to be held on 32 grant requests. It would be impossible to deal with 32 grants unless they have already been decided upon. So it's a game of "done deal." As we move into the new year, I hope that we will be able to put our differences behind us and work together "to

better the conditions of the Hawanan people as the Hawai'i Revised Statutes direct. I thank eaeh and every one of you for your cards, letters and phone calls of support. God be with you all in this New Year of 1998. ■

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