Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 1, 1 January 2003 — Leo 'Elele [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Leo 'Elele

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Rowena Akana Trustee, At-large

Last month's article focused on the hope that we would see significant changes on the OHA Board that would be beneficial to our beneficiaries. Weli — all I ean say is we all have to pray hard, very hard. First of all, there were no changes in terms of the Chairmanship of the Board or the Financial Chairman. Let me re-cap what occurred with regard to our financial management under this present budget chair. We lost almost $100 million ol trust dollars by not paying attention to business. If that was not devastating enough. in July and August of 2002, the Committee on Land accepted an offer from a developer to receive 200 acres of free land in Mā'ili worth $2,881,500. This action item was then forwarded to the Budget & Finance Committee in

Know your elected officials, demand accountability

September where it sat with no activity for three months. As a result of this negligence, the Developer sold the land in December 2002 These kinds of mis-opportunities are beginning to be eommon plaee under this leadership team. Can we as Hawaiians in this time of crises afford to miss opportunities such as these In January the Board must eoncern itself wilh choosing a new Money Management Team The Budget Chairman is pushing one candidate wilh great z,eal What is disconcerting is that he wants to close the door to other possible applicants. What's up with ihai^?? How ean beneficiaries expect accountability from those who they elect? May 1 offer some suggestions: Know the candidates, find out as

mueh as you ean about them. who they are aligned with, etc. • What has been their contribution to the eommunil} • Do they work īn non-profit organizations for profitr; • Are they fnendly with or in business with any of the present Board members? • Do they have any other eonneetions to seated Board members whieh would constitute a conflict and cause their block voting to be NOT in the best interest of the people, or the Trust? While this process may appear to be a lengthy one, it is important when selecting candidates for any public office. The good thing about electing officials is that the voters ean remove them in the next eleetion. What you don't want is a process that excludes the people,

such as appointing trustees rather than electing. Although the elected process is not perfect. it still remains the most fair and just way to select our leaders The solution to elect responsible leadership is to i be educated as best as we ean be t about the candidates. what they stand for and their past experience in working with the community that ; they hope to represent. As a voter t you too have a responsibility to get ; involved and to demand accountability of those whom you have elected. i In 2003 our goal must be to work t with the new administration on sety rling ceded land claims and to also :t pursue a recognition process. Ilook s forward to working with all of you :- in the coming year. Have a happy and safe New Year! ■