February 10, 2016
Te Tii trust lost over broken promises
Former MP Dover Samuels says Ngapuhi has lost control of what happens on Te Tii Marae, and it’s time to moved Waitangi welcomes to another venue.
Northern tribes are debating what to do after this year’s powhiri, when Prime Minister John Key stayed away because of conflicting messages from the marae trustees and taumata.
Mr Samuels opposes moving it away from Waitangi, but says many leading kaumatua would endorse the suggestion from Waitangi National Trust chair Pita Paraone that it move up to the Treaty Grounds.
He says Te Tii used to be capable of welcoming prime ministers and foreign leaders, but it has become a platform for dissent.
"I don’t see there is going to be any change. That's the problem. There were a number of assurances given to people, to politicians and leaders of political parties that were not fulfilled simply because the trustees and kaumatua, sometimes they have differences of opinion of how they see things and how protocols should be, it ends up as a shambles where you have the trustees on one side arguing with the taumata kaumatua on the other side," Mr Samuels says.
He says Ngapuhi hasn’t shown leadership and the marae has taken on a dial a kaumatua look.
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