Rino Tirikatene's political record of representing Maori in Christchurch is coming under attack from the woman he ousted from the Te Tai Tonga electorate last year.
Former Maori Party MP Rahui Katene says people affected by the earthquake are being ignored and constituents are still coming to her for help on issues such as roads, water and jobs.
She says that's a real problem because Labour Party MP Rino Tirikatene does not seem to be doing anything to help Maori he represents.
Ms Katene claims Mr Tirikatene is referring Maori constituents to the Pakeha MPs in Christchurch.
Rahui Katene is doing what she can to remain relevant and that involves stirring the pot. Rino has responded, quite rightly too, saying that many constituents have come to him citing the poor service Rahui gave last term. This, I think when examining the evidence, holds true. Rahui lost Christchurch despite having cultivated a significant profile in the wake of the earthquakes. If Rahui was doing a good job, then it follows that she would win more votes than Rino in Christchurch. This, however, was not the case and can only be read as an indictment against Rahui’s record in the city.
Rahui doesn’t have the coverage and connections Rino has across the electorate. Add to that the likelihood of Dora Langsbury and a Mana candidate standing and it becomes near impossible for Rahui to win – especially without the advantage of incumbency. Rahui can tend to her media profile, but that isn’t nearly enough to win a Maori electorate. Failure will be a deathblow against Rahui’s political career. You can’t, after all, lead the Maori Party without a seat in Parliament – it just isn’t practical.
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I have done some work for Rino in the past.
This is now silly. Any person who thinks they should have credibility to be worthy of becoming an MP ...refer to the Herald article on 30/05/12 about how Rahui Katene says she couldn't get into her FB a/c to change it until coincidentally she managed to be able to get into it when it was rightly picked up by the actual Te Tai Tonga MP as an issue.
ReplyDeleteIs this really the kind of behaviour wanted of a MP? Think about this - most importantly Rahui's statement about whether or not she could get into her FB a/c and what that indicates. I think a 2 minute check by any member of her FB a/c would show that there have been changes in the FB in the time period involved which meant Rahui had the ability to get into her FB a/c the whole time...what does all of that tell us?