Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 6, 1 June 2017 — Just Keep Paddling! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Just Keep Paddling!

There has been mueh eontroversy surrounding OHA in recent months

I that stems from I the discussion of an audit that started during campaign season last year. It is now very apparent that we need to conduct an audit to satisfy concerns that have been raised. Our board established an advisory committee to develop a Request for Qualifications that would outline the scope of services for an audit. It is my understanding that this audit

will be comprehensive and will provide answers to many of the questions that have been raised. There has been mueh discussion of the audit being focused on administrative staff actions and the status of the LLCs created by this board nearly 10 years ago. That is fine with me, I know we need to get better in certain areas and we should revisit the policies regarding the LLCs to ensure they are transparent and best practices are being followed. I am optimistic that the audit will specifically address two other areas as well, the Hawai'i Direct Investment (HDI) policy expenditures and the individual trustee allowances. The board created the HDI policy in order to allow for investment into loeal ventures, projects, andproperties and eaeh trustee has an annual sponsorship allowanee that they ean use at their own discretion. I expect that this audit will look specifically at the historical use of the HDI policy for investments and the trustee sponsorship funds to help us determine if our policies and practices in those areas are sound or if there has been misuse or abuse of those monies. At the end of the day, audits are meant to help organizations get better. I would hope the 'witch

hunts' will eventually end and we ean focus on moving forward. We have immense work to do

for our communities and the non-stop lawsuits and allegations do not help us move forward. I have not seen anything productive achieved for the Native Hawaiian community as a result of the steady flow of lawsuits that have been filed by Trustees and opponents of this organization. It has just been a costly and petty bickering match that

serves no benefit to our beneficiaries. It feels like we are in a eanoe with half the crew sitting still with their paddle in the water, dragging the eanoe down. Ultimately, for this organization, the buck stops with the Board of Trustees, and we must be accountable for our own actions. Constantly pointing fingers in the other direction is not productive. We must accept our own mistakes, learn from them and move forward. We must build for our future by focusing on our future, not by latching on to the past begrudgingly. So let's use this audit and its results productively. I weleome the results of a comprehensive audit that goes back at least five years and will allow us to see where we need to adjust in order to get better. I look forward to hearing from beneficiaries who have ideas on how we ean better serve our communities, how we ean better communicate, how we ean more effectively engage, and how we ean continue to grow towards being an organization that our people ean be proud of. This will take hard work and a commitment to communicate with our people and I look forward to building this type of dialogue on Kaua'i very soon. Hopefully, our collective efforts ean be centered on moving forward and getting better together. Pupukahi i holomua. ■

Dan Ahuna VicE Chair, TrustEE, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau