All OHA Beneficiaries Deserve Transparency

We the undersigned beneficiaries of the State of Hawaii, Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) do hereby call on the OHA Trustees to immediately provide free of charge all public information related to OHA's multi-year support of federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as "Native Americans" under S.344 also known as the "Akaka Bill.

OHA beneficiary Isaac D. Harp submitted a non-commercial public education purposes request for this information in November of 2003 under the State of Hawaiis Uniform Information Practices Act. Although the Uniform Information Practices Act provides 10-business days for a response, after over three months OHAs response through OHA Senior Staff Attorney Ernest Kimoto was an attempt to extort $4,000 for the public information, while reserving the right to increase this amount.

As OHA beneficiaries, we have the right to transparency in knowing how our Trust is managed and how our Trust funds are used without being subjected to extortion.

Therefore, we demand that OHA provide all communications and expenditures of our Trust funds related to federal recognition to Mr. Harp in a timely manner. Please keep in mind that Mr. Harp submitted his request to OHA in November of 2003.

Further, we demand that OHA immediately cease and desist misappropriating our Trust funds and misrepresenting Native Hawaiians in pursuing political relationships with foreign governments, particularly the United States of America.

As descendants of nationals of the Kingdom of Hawaii, we are the rightful heirs to our ancestors sovereign country, which remains under the unlawful control of the United States of America since the unlawful act of war that began on January 17, 1893. Please see United States Public Law 103-150, also known as The Apology Resolution.

Ua mau ke ea o ka aina I ka pono