Summarised by Centrist
Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi says claims that she overspent her Tai Tokerau electorate budget are false and that any adjustments were made to support a sick colleague.
Responding to allegations from her party’s leadership that she and her son mismanaged office funds, Kapa-Kingi said her budget “had not ever been overspent.”
She claimed that the changes were made when she took on extra staff to assist the late Tāmaki Makaurau MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp, who was unwell at the time.
“She needed extra support to focus on her oranga [health], and the responsibility to hāpai [support] her electorate fell to me, as the closest MP to her rohe,” Kapa-Kingi wrote. “The budget under my kaitiakitanga [guardianship] had to be adjusted to accommodate new staff to cover that added mahi.”
However, Kapa-Kingi did not respond to concerns about hiring her son, Eru Kapa-Kingi, to work in her office.
She claimed the party leadership initially approved the first tranche of payments for this work “without contest or alarm” and that the arrangements were known and authorised.
She also claimed “the Speaker of the House, (who has the last say on all budgetary matters), approved my budget adjustments and confirmed no rules had been breached.”
Kapa-Kingi added that she had also taken on unpaid administrative duties as Party Whip, which she assumed would later be funded through the party’s central budget.
Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere declined to comment, saying only that the party’s constitution was “in plan.” Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, however, has made it clear she has no intention of stepping down.
