Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 9, 1 September 1993 — An open letter from eight trustees and the administration [ARTICLE]

An open letter from eight trustees and the administration

You may have read or heard the continuous negative attacks of Trustee Rowena Akana on any myriad of issues, all of whieh are intended to further her political career at the expense of any one of us, OHA or the beneficiaries. We do not quarrel with Akana's right to disagree with us on any issue or any philosophy. We do, however, take exception to statements whieh are intellectually dishonest, or whieh by implication and innuendo, do not reflect the truth about the trustees or the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. We are not always in agreement with one another. We eome from different socio-eco-nomie backgrounds and hold to different ideologies and philosophies based on our life's experiences. Although we may disagree with eaeh other, we have not personalized that disagreement by writing to the newspapers or complaining over the radio. We do not believe that would be in anyone's best interest, and, more importantly, the Hawaiian people's best interest. Rather, we prefer and have tried to work out our disagreements within our organization through

processes such as ho'oponopono. In an article published in a loeal newspaper, Rowena Akana has stated that we weren't consulted on the temporary investment of $130 million. The records show that we all had the opportunity at the Finance Committee meeting June 10, 1993 to discuss, question and deliberate on the temporary placement of the investment with Bank of Hawai'i. We eaeh also had an additional opportunity at the official Board of Trustees meeting on June 14, 1993, where the vote taken was 8 to 1. Akana could have offered a better alternative, but she apparently didn't have one. Instead she onee again turned her disagreement into OHA bashing in the media. Akana has said we don't have a plan for the use of the new revenues. The fact is there are several plans that present and former OHA trustees have been working on for several years whieh could not be funded because OHA did not have the revenues. By 1982, OHA had developed a Master Plan, whieh was subsequently revised in 1988, and will be updated shortly. The Master Plan presents OHA's mission statement, goals, po!icies and priori-

ties for a 10-year period. It clearly establishes what OHA intends to do and why. The functional plan of this office operationalizes the Master Plan. It lays out in great detail how the goals and priorities are to be accomplished by OHA's divisions and offices. Eaeh program states its objectives, a time frame for accomplishment, the impact expected, and the resources needed to achieve eaeh objective. The functional plan covers three biennium periods, 1991-1997, and guides OHA's biennium budget request, whieh constitutes our spending plan for yearly operations. The priorities identified in the Master Plan guide our decisions on use of trust funds. In 1992, the trustees designated $10 million as part of the OHA Education Foundation to make available greater opportunities through scholarships and programs such as the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program. On August 4th we passed the first Housing Partnership Plan with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and First Hawaiian Bank to offer homestead beneficiaries second mortgage down payment financing and home

repair financing. The total funding of this plan is $20 million. What's Akana's plan aside from personalizing and criticizing all that we do? Eaeh of us has our special areas of interest - Moses Keale is the Chairman of the Committee on Planning and has been working on eeonomie development projects; Kamaki Kanahele is the Chairman of Education and Culture, and has worked hard to implement the Education Foundation and the Native Hawaiian Historic Preservation Council; Frenchy DeSoto and Klna'u Boyd Kamali'i as Chairs of the Legislative Review and Land & Sovereignty Committees have been working on sovereignty and the realization of the return of state and federal land claims for many years; and Moanike'ala Akaka has for years been trying to define and quantify a comprehensive health care plan, including an adolescent mental health care task force and a subcommittee on the welfare of incarcerated Hawaiians. Samuel L. Kealoha Jr., a small businessman on Moloka'i, has worked with all of us to incorporate his ideals on sovereignty, and the future of

Moloka'i. Abraham Aiona as Finance Chairman has been trying to be sure that all expenditures are within the guidelines and principles established by present and former trustees. And finally, the Chairman has been trying to keep the organization moving forward. If Akana is right in stating that we aren't moving fast enough, where's her plan? Maybe it's still being worked on. Maybe she doesn't have one. After all, it's far easier to knoek someone else's plan than put forth your own. No one is perfect. We are the first to admit this. But we are not the ones you will likely read complaining about our eolleagues in the newspaper or hear on the radio because we believe that so long as we disagree on issues and not individual personalities we ean and will succeed in achieving eonsensus. We will continue to try to be proactive rather than reactive to the tasks before us. We will refrain from personalizing our disagreements. We will constantly strive to be better. We ask for your understanding.

clay\^i hee. chair

moanikeala akaka. member a. frenchy desptoatember

alna'u boyd kAmalii. member ^ ^ — kamaki kanahele, member

moses keale sr„ member ^samuel l. kealoha jr„ member

/ i L « i li M s V 1« richard paglinawan,«dmin Z — jerry walker. deputy admin