Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 8, 1 August 2014 — OHA trustees extend nation- building timetable [ARTICLE]

OHA trustees extend nationbuilding timetable

By Harold Nedd Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs announced July 24 that they have extended the timetable for the nation-building process they previously committed to facilitate. The six-month extension is expected to allow OHA more time to educate the puhlie about a process meant to empower Native Hawaiians to participate in building a governing entity. Under the new timetable approved by OHA's Board of Trustees, voters who are registered in the Official Roll of Native Hawaiians will elect delegates in January 2015 to represent them at a governance convention in April. The new timeline also calls for Hawaiians on the offieial roll to vote by July 20 15 in a referendum to approve or disapprove the draft governing document, whieh would determine the next steps in

the process. But in extending the timeline, the Board of Trustees also remained steadfast in its original position that being registered on the Official Roll of Native Hawaiians is the only way to qualify to participate in this particular nationbuilding process. "We believe that this new timetable helps to position us to build a strong sovereign governing entity that will be embraced by all of our people," said OHA Chairperson Colette Machado. "It is now time to work together to be sure that the contemporary Native Hawaiian governing entity is rooted in our ancestral wisdom." ■

" We believe that this new timetable helps to position us to build a strong sovereign governing entity that will be embraced by all of our people."

— Colette Machado, OHA Chairperson

www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS