Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Kaialiʻi Kahele was elected to represent Hawaiʻi Island during the 2024 Primary Election with 57% of the vote. Immediately following the swearing-in ceremony of new and re-elected OHA trustees in Honolulu on December 4, Kahele was elected by a majority of his peers to serve as chair of the Board of Trustees – the first time a newly elected trustee has been voted as chairperson.
Kahele, a Hawaiian Airlines pilot with 23 years of military service, is the only trustee in OHA’s 45-year history to have previously served in both the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and the U.S. Congress. He unexpectedly entered the political arena in February 2016 after the passing of his father, the late Sen. Gil Kahele. On his deathbed, the senior Kahele asked his son to take on his leadership kuleana and then-Gov. David Ige appointed him to replace his father for the duration of his term in office. The community subsequently confirmed their support for Kaialiʻi Kahele’s leadership during the 2016 and 2018 elections.
In 2020, Kahele was elected to represent Hawaiʻi’s 2nd congressional district in Washington, D.C., but served only one term, deciding that the frequent separation was too hard on his young family. Believing he could better serve Hawaiʻi in Hawaiʻi, he made a run for governor in 2022 but was defeated by Gov. Josh Green.
Kahele settled back into “civilian” life in Hilo, focusing on his career as a pilot and his ʻohana, using the time to take a step back and reflect on what he had done well – and what he could have done better. Then sometime in late 2023, he was approached by several respected kūpuna – including former OHA trustees Mililani Trask and Mālama Solomon – to consider taking on the kuleana of running for OHA. Together with his wife, Maria, Kahele made the decision to run for OHA’s Hawaiʻi Island seat.
As an OHA trustee and board chair, what do you hope to accomplish?
I never thought that I would be back in public office this soon. Honestly, I never really thought I would be in politics. I didn’t grow up wanting to be a state senator, a member of Congress or an OHA trustee. I dreamed about being a pilot.
But my dad made sure that I understood the importance of participating civically, the importance of giving back to community. And although I love flying, I also love serving in elected office. I want to make life better for our people and tackle the most difficult challenges we face – that our state faces – and bring people together in a collaborative way to solve long-standing problems that people before me have not been able to solve.
So, I’ve returned to elected office with a renewed focus on where I believe Hawaiʻi should go and what leadership should look like. And now I have this unique opportunity to lead the Board of Trustees as chair for the next two years and that’s something I take very, very seriously. It’s a heavy kuleana. I want to help reshape OHA and take it in a new direction.
Under your leadership, what kind of changes should our lāhui expect to see at OHA?
My leadership style is built on empowerment, personal responsibility, and developing the next generation of leaders – and I will do my best to set a good example.
What’s important to me is that our new leadership team and standing committee chairs will be empowered like they have never been empowered before to lead their committees and to lead the respective administrative divisions that fall under their kuleana. I’m looking forward to seeing what they are going to do. My goal is to raise the bar for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Within 48 hours of assuming the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees, I sent all OHA staff an outline of my philosophy, vision, and values. That is my philosophy and vision for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The way I intend to lead OHA is embodied in that document.
My vision is to establish a different culture at OHA, one where we’re more collaborative and have a more team-minded approach built on trust, collective progress, and a shared vision. It requires breaking down individual silos at OHA and having a bias for action.
What do you plan to focus on first in 2025?
We cannot successfully address the issues [facing our people] if we don’t address OHA’s internal issues first – whether it’s staff vacancies or morale. I’m planning to meet with all staff to hear from them about what we do well and what we could do better. Before the end of the year, I [also] want to do anonymous climate surveys to give staff a chance to address issues they feel are important.
I want to make sure that OHA is living its values and that we’re valuing our people. We cannot do our jobs as trustees – and senior leadership cannot do their jobs – without the staff. They are our greatest asset.
So, what are we doing to make sure that they feel valued, that their voices are heard, and that they’re being properly compensated? What are we doing to help them address their mental and physical health? We need to invest in professional development, be open and honest, and communicate. That is what makes for thriving businesses and organizations.
I am also asking, “what are we doing to develop the bench? Who is next up?” We need to have people prepared at any time to step into different roles because if only one person knows how to do something and they leave OHA, they take their institutional knowledge with them. We lose all of that. There’s no backup.
Externally, the thing that is top of mind for me is reestablishing OHA’s relevance in multiple different areas, but first and foremost at the legislature. The new legislative session is coming up and I think Trustee [Brickwood] Galuteria and I are perfectly positioned because of the existing relationships we have at the legislature. That is going to be key for priority legislative issues that I envision OHA will have this session.
Beyond the legislature, OHA needs to reestablish relevance in all areas of government – from the county councils and the mayors to the governor’s office to the congressional delegation. Creating a partnership with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement is going to be important. They are a nimble, non-bureaucratic nonprofit, while OHA, as a quasi-state agency, is more bureaucratic.
But together, our collective strength can be a powerhouse for the Native Hawaiian community: the ability for CNHA to innovate and to move fast, married with the constitutional power of OHA and its $700 million plus portfolio.
So, it’s about reestablishing our credibility and our relevance with other government agencies, as well as the various stakeholders and partners that we have in the community. That needs addressing, and that is what I intend to focus on in 2025.
What is OHA doing well and what needs to be improved?
OHA does incredible work for the organizations that are receiving grant funding from OHA. The distribution of millions of dollars across the pae ʻāina for Native Hawaiian-serving nonprofits is making a difference in the lives of our beneficiaries.
Another thing OHA is doing well right now is leading the charge on issues like iwi kūpuna, especially what happened most recently on Kauaʻi. OHA took a prime leadership role to address something that is really a core issue for Native Hawaiians – the protection of our kūpuna.
OHA is also well-positioned to shape the narrative [of our people] through Ka Wai Ola. The 70,000+ distribution every month is powerful. We can’t depend on the mainstream media because they will write and report what they want. I’ve seen the worst of media, especially as it relates to Native Hawaiians. So, Ka Wai Ola is a start. I have even bigger ideas of how we can be a voice and really chart our own narrative for the Native Hawaiian community.
In terms of improvement, I already spoke about relevancy. Another thing we can improve on is how we manage our land assets. We haven’t done anything in Kakaʻako Makai in the last 10 years. And there is no vision or collective thought being put into what we’re going to do with our Iwilei lands or collaboration with the City and County [because] the rail is headed our way. OHA is perfectly positioned to be part of that conversation. That needs to be improved.
OHA also needs to re-engage our Native Hawaiian communities. Civic education is woefully deficient, not just in our Native Hawaiian communities, but throughout our state.
“Native Hawaiians only represent about 21% of the state population so we need everyone at the table. And when they don’t show up to vote, and don’t make their voices heard, we cannot do the job that we want to do at OHA.” – KAI KAHELE
Native Hawaiians only represent about 21% of the state population so we need everyone at the table. And when they don’t show up to vote, and don’t make their voices heard, we cannot do the job that we want to do at OHA. So, we have to reignite these little kīpuka throughout our communities. We are not addressing the most important issues in people’s lives – and the only way to know that is to get out into the community. We need to meet people where they are in their communities.
Another thing that I intend to address immediately is OHA’s near-absence on the military leased lands issue. These are ceded lands. I wrote about it in my December column and Naka Nathaniel did a piece on it [in Ka Wai Ola] but we have not seen action from the board.
We cannot be left off the table in these conversations. And right now, we are. I intend to bring my 23+ years of military experience to this. My entire career has been in the Indo-Pacific and I deeply understand the issues. My dad retired as director of public works at Pōhakuloa, so I grew up there. This is really important to me.
Please comment on building affordable/ workforce housing on OHA’s land in Kakaʻako Makai.
Affordable and workforce housing is something I’m deeply focused on in Kakaʻako Makai. [But] it is pointless to create a master plan without knowing we have the entitlements we desire. OHA needs community support from local leaders who don’t want what’s happening in Kakaʻako Mauka to happen in Kakaʻako Makai. How can we meet that sentiment halfway and collaborate? OHA has a clearly thought-out mission around residential development, not only for Hawaiians, but for local families who are owner-occupants – not short-term renters or investors.
We have a shortage of essential workers – teachers, law enforcement, nurses, civil service, hospitality and construction. How can we ensure most units are dedicated as affordable and provide a housing preference for them? Without these workers we cannot function and if they don’t have a place to live then they’re moving to the continent. In 2023 we had an outmigration of 11,000 people and it’s our local families who are leaving because they cannot afford a place to live.
We can partner with [other agencies and Kakaʻako Makai landowners] DHHL, the University of Hawaiʻi, Kamehameha Schools to possibly do a joint venture. We can make an incredible Kakaʻako Makai – one that houses both Native Hawaiians and other local people and provides a cultural center and promenade with no high density development along the waterfront.
What about OHA’s lands in Iwilei?
There is a robust effort among various stakeholders and partners along the transit-oriented development [through Kalihi and Iwilei into downtown]. One such organization is Move Oʻahu Forward led by Stanford Carr, Jennifer Sabas and Lance Wilhelm. Iʻve already met with them as well as with Honolulu City Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam who represents the district. They are already working on a master plan for the area, so the first thing OHA should be doing is making sure it has a seat at the table with the Move Oʻahu Forward organization.
We also need to start talking to different landholders in the area – Kamehameha Schools, the City & County of Honolulu, the University of Hawaiʻi, Castle & Cooke – to see how we can collaborate on infrastructure because the rail stations will be the hub and the biggest areas for growth along the rail line. What is the location of our lands in relation to the rail stations and how can we connect? Obviously workforce housing should be a key part of these lands.
Rail is coming in the next decade and its coming right down Dillingham Blvd. So what is OHA doing today to prepare for that? What is our plan for our lands and what infrastructure is needed? To be honest, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.
For more than 40 years – and in violation of state law (HRS 10-13.5) – OHA has been seriously underfunded by the State of Hawaiʻi in withholding OHA’s pro rata share of public land trust (ceded land) revenues, hampering forward progress for the agency. Under your leadership how will this be addressed?
We have never been able to get an accurate inventory of those public trust lands. The approximately 1.8 million acres of former crown and government lands that were taken illegally at the overthrow, conveyed to the United States at annexation, and then given to the new State of Hawaiʻi per the Admissions Act to be held in trust for public trust purposes.
The 1978 constitutional convention that created OHA specified [that the agency should receive] a 20% pro rata share of public land trust (PLT) revenues. But ever since [OHA’s] inception the legislature has been trying to water down that constitutional amendment.
It is my understanding that OHA, along with the Governor’s Office, will both dedicate financial resources to fund a public land trust inventory system so we can finally resolve this issue. DLNR’s existing database is woefully deficient. I haven’t spoken to him yet, but it looks like we have a governor who is sympathetic to our cause and open to helping us address it.
Once we know what we should be getting in terms of PLT revenues, we can approach it from that point. It also requires having good relationships and trust with the money chairs. Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz as well as Rep. Kyle Yamashita on the House side – their support is critical as well because it is going to have to come from them.
This goes back to one of the things that I talked about before – if our people are not educated on the issues or why it’s important, if they don’t engage civically, if they don’t know or don’t care, and they don’t understand how it affects their lives – then we will not have the political capital at the legislature to advocate for these things. If we just depend on OHA’s public policy division and a couple of trustees to [increase our PLT allocation] it’s not going to happen. We need the collective power of our lāhui behind us to accomplish that.
HRS 10H-21 directs OHA to “implement the recognition of the Native Hawaiian people by means and methods that will facilitate their self-governance.” What does OHA need to do (or what will OHA do) to move our lāhui towards some form of sovereignty?
One of the core things OHA should be doing is [working towards] the self-determination of our people. The fact that it is not part of our current strategic plan means that no one is talking about it, and that is something that I’m going to address. And if required, amend our strategic plan to make sure that self-governance and self- determination is back in our strategic plan.
OHA’s mission is clear: improve the lives of Native Hawaiians. And further, to bring to fruition self-determination and self-governance to address the economic disparities of Native Hawaiians around housing and health care. To leave self-determination and governance out of the current strategic plan is a mistake.
“One of the core things OHA should be doing is working towards the self-determination of our people.” – KAI KAHELE
I don’t know that it is as divisive an issue as we think. I just think that people are not educated on the issue. I don’t think most people understand what independence is versus federal recognition versus nation within a nation.
I think OHA can fill a space that no one is filling today – which is educating our people on what self-determination actually means and the [forms it might take to determine the] best path forward for our people.
Why don’t we bring in the subject matter experts around those different pathways, like Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi or Dr. Keanu Sai? Why donʻt we bring in someone who can talk about the nation within a nation concept or federal recognition under the auspices of the United States? Under President Obama the Department of the Interior created a process for self-determination. What does that look like for the Native Hawaiian community?
[We need to] have these discussions. The trustees need to re- energize this conversation so we can take a more definitive position. Let’s reanalyze the issue and possibly codify some of our strategic initiatives regarding self-determination into the current strategic plan.
