Letter: Hopi tribal government needs serious reform

To the editor:

I attended the Tribal Council hearing on Mr. Benjamin H. Nuvamsa, former Chairman of the Hopi Tribe, on March 16 in the tribal council chamber. As a result, I have some observations to make on this hearing.

First, it is my opinion that the Hopi Tribal Constitutional provision of Article 5, Section 2 does not apply to Mr. Nuvamsa because he is no longer an officer in the tribal government. He resigned effective Dec. 31, 2008. The provision specifies "any officer or representative may be removed from office for serious neglect of duty." The provision clearly specifies a removal from office and cannot be applied to an individual who is no longer in office. Therefore, the hearing and resolution is a clear violation of the Hopi Tribal Constitution and prime-facie, null and void.

Second, these village representatives continue to violate their oaths of office and continue to violate our Hopi Tribal Constitution. It does not matter what their intent is - a violation is a violation. Therefore, the only proper remedy is to remove them from office when their term ends. In my opinion, they have violated their oath and the Constitution so many times that none of them deserve to be in office any longer.

Third, this hearing illustrated that there is no justice in a hearing before the Tribal Council. Once charges are approved by the Council, the tribal officer subject to these charges will be convicted. Unfortunately, this process will continue so long as the council will enforce Article 5, Section 2 of the Constitution.

On the other hand, it is very clear that the Chairman and Vice Chairman are elected by members of the Hopi Tribe in a tribal election. In my opinion, the members of the tribe who elected these officers into office should be the ones to remove them from office when absolutely necessary and not the Tribal Council. However, it will be necessary to amend the Constitution to put this into effect and it must be executed ASAP because we have witnessed two elected Chairmen removed within a period of four years.

This shall not continue because it leads to a dysfunctional tribal government, which we now have.

Caleb Johnson

Kykotsmovi, Ariz.

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