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28th September 2011

Mana Accuses Govt of Gross Hypocricy Over Mokomoko Pardon

MANA spokesperson Annette Sykes says while government moves to restore the mana of Whakatohea Maori Chief Mokomoko wrongly accused of murder and put to the gallows in 1871 are welcome, the action at this time wreaks of hypocricy.

She says the Mokomoko pardon is hugely important and a rare victory Maori push to break from era of colonialism

However Annette Sykes says the signing today between the Crown and the Mokomoko whanau of an agreement to introduce special legislation to recognize a pardon granted in 1992 must be seen against the government’s determination to proceed with the Urewera terror raid trial of people arrested after illegal Police surveillance nearly four years ago.

“Maori affairs minister Pita Sharples must have surely squirmed as he signed the agreement to restore mana lost 145 years ago but then return to the House and turn a blind eye to the plight of citizens whose rights have been ridden roughshod over by a government he is party to.

“And this on an afternoon where the government has shown a complete distain for established legal process by retrospectively moving to legitimise the Police’s breaking of the law in the Urewera’s in 2007.”

Annette Sykes says continued prosecution and persecution of law abiding citizens in the Ruatoki Valley nearly 4 years later shows that while the government is prepared to pay in gracious platitudes to Mokomoko descendant’s they are at the same time willing to turn a blind eye to the modern day equivalent that leaves blood on their own hands.

“I could not imagine a more inappropriate time for the government to make such a gesture when it refuses to enter discussions with those who have had livelihoods destroyed and their lives traumatized by the police storm trooper raids.

“It sickens me, to still sees the terror on the faces of children whose innocent parents were treated as if they were terrorists, who watched helplessly as their pets were shot and who were themselves herded like animals by the Police bandits.

“One can only wonder what will be running through their minds as they see Dr Sharples grinning across their television screens tonight as if he deserves some sort of accolade for belatedly moving to recognise Mokomoko , an ancestor of many of them, but knowing full well he is the face of a government in disgrace.”

“She says it will mean little to them that the Crown is moving to rectify an insult which saw three others hanged in Mt Eden prison at the same time as Mokomoko pardoned in 1992 because they were from ngati awa, but Mokomoko a Whakatohea chief not included in the statutory pardon at that time.

“It is so easy to condemn the actions of past law makers long gone but continue with the persecution of modern day Maori and continue to refuse to give Maori joint management rights over the Urewera which they have never ceded to the Crown and never will.

“A move made by Prime Minister John Key on the eve of a settlement because he felt his red neck National colleagues would castigate him for it.

“Its another example of Maori bashing of the worst kind and the fact that Pita sharples, a once respected Maori leader is prepared to put his signature to it shows just how distant he has become from his people.”

ENDS

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