Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 4, 1 April 2001 — Micromanagement creates bureaucratic logjam [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Micromanagement creates bureaucratic logjam

Recent judicial decisions have sent shockwaves throughout the Hawaiian community, and have caused us to take a serious look at how to best preserve our rights and entitlements as the indigenous peoples of our island home. Threats from beyond Hawai'i's shores have caused us to ponder the future of our people and nation. These turbulent times have mobilized our community to eome together in an unified attempt to achieve federal recognition for Hawaiians and to undertake a process for self-determination that will benefit our people for time immemorial. To advocate and promote a Hawaiian agenda in the halls of our state legislature, in the halls of Congress, and in our Hawaiian communities is very essential given the current climate of litigation against our people's rights and entitlements in Hawai'i and on the continent. As many of you are already aware, a federal lawsuit,

known as Barrett vs. State of Hawai'i, is looming. This frightening case seeks to eliminate Article XII of the Hawai'i State Constitution. This part of the Constitution created the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, adopted the Hawaiian Home Lands program, and allowed for native gathering rights. In an attempt to stave off the negatives that this case entails, on Feb. 21, the trustees voted to adopt a post -Rice strategic plan with the overall objectives being to protect Hawaiian rights, programs and assets, and to rebuild broad-based support for a Hawaiian agenda. However, a micromanaging style of leadership has caused a logjam in the implementation phase of this important undertaking. At a marathon board meeting on March 9, trustees rated by points two finalists for our awareness campaign selection. After many arduous hours, points were tallied, and a vendor was selected. I breathed a sigh of relief — finally! Now we

ean begin our work! On March 12, a memorandum from the chairman's office awaited my arrival. The memo was to inform the trustees that the new media contract was being held up because of questions on the process by whieh we selected the finalist. Knowing how important it is for us to get the public relations campaign under way, we cannot afford to lose any more time. It might take another 90 days to send out another notice to all parties interested in being considered for this monumental task. This amounts to lost time in terms of being able to accurately and effectively deliver our message to our constituents, policy makers, and the people of Hawai'i. The bureaucracy and red tape that this agency is mired in is testament to the restrictions we have on us since we are bound to obey the state's procurement laws. Although these rules and regulations are in plaee to regulate the procuring of contracts, it has become an unneeessary hurdle that now impedes us

in our quest to launeh OHA's education and awareness campaign. Coupling this train of thought with the fact that there has been some "setting of the brakes" internally, it has been really difficult to move forward with the implementation phase of this education campaign. This turn of events is unprecedented. When OHA was preparing for the Rice case, we also hired a vendor to help us with raising puhlie awareness. The process took its normal course, a vendor was selected swiftly, and OHA was able to get underway with its education eampaign. For some unbeknownst reason, this did not occur this time around. All politics must be set aside for this monumental task, as time is of the essence! Hawaiian rights and entitlements are the whole ball of wax. Everything is at stake. We must get started immediately in order to protect our trust in perpetuity. I mua! ■

Rowena Akana

Trustee, At-large