Many Voters, Hawaiian & Non-Hawaiian are asking me who I am voting for in the OHA Elections.
I will be voting for Keli`i Akina for OHA Trustee At-Large, Luana Alapa for OHA Trustee for Molokai and Lanakila Mangauil for OHA Trustee for Hawai`i Island.
I am voting for Keli`i Akina because he has consistently been an advocate for accountability and transparency at OHA. He and Trustsee Hulu Lindsey from Maui have been the strongest voices raising OHA's ongoing mismanagement and inability to explain why millions of dollars to the tune of $8 million in Trust funds have been awarded by OHA for projects that auditors raised as red flags for waste, abuse and fraud! These are funds the auditors signaled as being unaccounted for (Kaua`i Taro Co-Op & Kana`iolowalu Sovereignty) and why OHA cannot respond to or justify the serious issues raised in 3 Financial Audits. We need Keli`i to remain on the OHA Board to bring about transparency & accountability to protect the financial interests of our trust.
I am voting for Luana Alapa as OHA Trustee from Molokai because she is the only candidate that is a small business woman and because of her lifelong commitment to building self-confidence in young Hawaiian women. I also know that Luana Alapa can work with everyone, we need her leadership & experience to stop the continuous in-fighting that has paralyzed OHA for years. If you check the record you will find that many of the serious accounting problems at OHA started under the leadership of Colette Machado, who has steadfastly refused to make public the records of significant Trust Funds for projects & programs that she directly ordered.
I am voting for Lanakila Mangauil for OHA Trustee Hawai`i Island because he resides on Hawai`i Island, is a Hawaiian Educator & Cultural Practitioner and has demonstrated his commitment to preserving our culture, our Wahi Pana (sacred places) and our Constitutional and Human Rights to Worship the Akua, maintain our cultural practices and preserve our `āina.
Voting is the basis for exercising our power to designate & support our true leaders. Hawaiians voted during the Kingdom and still do now. In this election, we have the opportunity to make change, to get accountability and to stop the waste, fraud, abuse and ineptitude at OHA. Let's not waste this chance to make change for ourselves, our ohana & our `āina.
I ku mau mau!
Mililani B. Trask
