Haumaha inquiry a farce

I blogged a week ago that I thought the appointment of Pauline Kingi as the inquiry head into the appointment of Wally Haumaha as Deputy Police Commissioner was unwise. I said:

Dr Kingi is well respected. But she has a current role advising Police on recruitment, which makes her a less than ideal choice to head an inquiry into the recruitment of the Deputy Commissioner. …

So Kingi is actively involved in selection of senior police officers, and she is handpicked by NZ First Ministers to review the selection of a former NZ First candidate as Deputy Police Commissioner.

But it turns out that the choice is even more flawed than I suspected. Newstalk ZB reports:

The head of the independent inquiry into Wally Haumaha’s appointment as deputy police commissioner appears to have publicly endorsed his skills and abilities online.

The Herald can reveal that Kingi, who is involved in selecting senior police officers, appears to have endorsed Haumaha on the professional networking website LinkedIn.

The site allows other users to endorse the skills and areas of experience of other members.

Haumaha has 15 skills and areas of experience, such as leadership and stakeholder engagement, that have been endorsed by others.

An account in the name of Dr Kingi, a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, is the only one to endorse all 15.

That account is the only one to endorse Haumaha in some skills, such as ‘security’ and ‘firearms’.

This makes the independent inquiry a farce. Dr Kingi should never have been appointed or accepted appointment. If you know someone well enough to publicly endorse them on Linked In, you know them too well to head up an inquiry into their appointment.

Haumaha is a former NZ First Candidate. The Acting PM chose a NZ First Minister to be responsible for the inquiry and the NZ First Minister chose someone who is fatally compromised due to their closeness to Haumaha.

It stinks of a cover up.