152

LIHUE — Na‘i Aupuni on Wednesday announced the names of 152 Native Hawaiians who will take part in an ‘aha, a gathering to broadly discuss self-governance, in February.

The ‘aha participants come from the 196 former candidates who stepped forward to run in an election that would have sent 40 of them to a constitutional convention. Na‘i Aupuni terminated the election on Dec. 15 because its leaders said pending litigation could have stalled the counting of the vote for years.

Forty-four people declined to participate.

Na‘i Aupuni, instead, offered all of the then-registered candidates terms to participate in a gathering to discuss self-governance. A total of 151 participants had signed on for the ‘aha by the deadline of Tuesday.

Candidates from Kauai and Niihau are Samuel Aea and Linda Ka‘auwai-Iwamoto.

“Every former candidate had an opportunity to participate and we are excited that a large group of committed persons who represents a broad cross section of the Native Hawaiian community, both in Hawaii and on the continent, will have an opportunity to discuss self-governance,” said Kuhio Asam, Na‘i Aupuni president. “Our goal has always been to establish a path to an ‘aha where Hawaiians can have a long-overdue discussion on the future of the Hawaiian people.

“These are Hawaiians who have shown a deep commitment to engage in serious, civil discussions on self-governance. We are very happy and encouraged that so many individuals have made a decision to be participants.”

A component of the month-long ‘aha includes the discussions the participants will engage in with experts during the first week regarding constitution building; federal Indian law; international law regarding de-occupation and Kingdom Law.

Peter Adler and Linda Colburn of The Mediation Center of the Pacific will serve as facilitators.

“Thereafter, whatever happens at the ‘aha will be up to the participants without interference by Na‘i Aupuni or any government entity,” according to a press release.