Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi faces suspension motion

Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau Mariameno Kapa-Kingi during Oriini Kaipara's maiden speech in Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi will soon be suspended by her party, according to reports.

Meanwhile, other members in the party are reportedly moving against the party’s president John Tamihere, readying a bid to topple him.

Waatea News reports the party held a national council hui last Thursday, which passed a motion to suspend Kapa-Kingi. The party also passed a motion to look at the best way to give effect to the suspension.

This would mean Kapa-Kingi sitting as an independent in Parliament.

Speaking to 1News, Kapa-Kingi said the news was “a real disappointment”.

“They continue to prove the point of dysfunction.”

She claimed her Te Tai Tokerau electorate committee was not invited to attend Thursday’s meeting and had not been afforded a right of reply.

“As far as I’m concerned, this so-called suspension, it has no mana.”

Kapa-Kingi and the party leadership have been in conflict for weeks. Last month, she was reshuffled from her position as party whip.

Her son, Eru Kapa-Kingi, the public face of the Toitū te Tiriti movement, said Toitū was cutting ties with the party and claimed it had a dictatorial leadership style.

The party shot back with dramatic allegations saying Mariameno overspent her parliamentary budget and that Eru Kapa-Kingi, who worked for Mariameno Kapa-Kingi in Parliament, had been sacked for assaulting Parliament security guards and hurling racial slurs at them – claims he described as “defamatory”.

Waatea News reports that Thursday’s hui voted on the following four motions.

1. That the Te Tai Tokerau Electorate Executive be reset by way of a Special General Meeting, on the basis that the Electorate Executive is no longer functioning in accordance with Party requirements and the Kawa.
2. That the Te Tai Tokerau MP has seriously breached the Te Pāti Māori Kawa [Constitution]
3. That the Te Tai Tokerau MP be suspended.
4. That the National Executive develop and recommend the most appropriate process to implement the suspension of the Te Tai Tokerau MP and report back to the National Council.

Waatea reported that all four were passed, with support of representatives of all electorates but Te Tai Tonga, which is represented by Takuta Ferris who has also been in a dispute with the party over the handling of social media posts targeting non-Māori, which were widely seen as racist.

Over the weekend, the party’s newest MP, Orinii Kaipara made a long social media post in support of Mariameno Kapa-Kingi.

The Herald has contacted Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and representatives from Te Pāti Māori.

1News also reported a letter from the party’s Te Tai Tonga electorate to other regional representatives.

It said: “Te Tai Tonga does not recognise or endorse any resolutions passed at that hui.”

The letter said the electorate would call for “an immediate vote of no confidence in the party president and the national executive”.