Rana Waitai

Rana Donald Waitai is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1996 to 1999. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1996 elections as New Zealand First MP for the Maori seat of Te Puku O Te Whenua as one of the "Tight Five", having previously stood for the Gisborne seat. In 1998, when New Zealand First splintered, Waitai was one of the eight MPs who left the party. He eventually joined with four other MPs to form the Mauri Pacific party. In the 1999 elections, he was ranked fourth on Mauri Pacific's list, but the party failed to win any seats.

Rana Donald Waitai, was born 26 November 1942 in Wanganui, New Zealand. His fatherwas Te Rangi Koroingo Te Oreore Waitai (August 1912-1989) born and died in Lower Hutt. His mother was Mavis Lillian Waitai (nee Winduss) (May 1912-1997) born in Nelson and died in Lower Hutt.

Rana Waitai was a Freezing Worker at Wanganui in 1961, a Bushman in 1961 at Karioi and also a factory worker. He later became a trainee probation officer at Wellington and in 1965 joined the New Zealand Police. In August 1996 he was elected to the New Zealand Parliament to represent the Te Puku O Te Whenua Maori electorate. He retired from the Police at the rank of Superintendent after 31 years.

Rana Waitai is now a practising Barrister and Solicitor in Wanganui. He holds the following academic degrees - Bachelor of Arts (BA) (major in sociology) 1978, Bachelor of Law (LLB) 2003, Master of Public Policy (MPP) 1981, Master of Law (LLM) Research paper Terrorism Laws of New Zealand (2004). As of 2005 he lives at Kaungaroa in the Wangaehu River valley, some 25 km south of Wanganui where he operates his legal practice.

In 2005, Waitai attempted to re-enter politics as a by-election candidate for the Wanganui District Council. Although soundly defeated, he was successful in being elected to the council and the Whanganui district health board in the local body elections of October 2007. He is currently deputy chairman of the council's Harbour and Maori committees.

Rana Waitai was the partner of Te Aroha Ann Ruru Stanton from 1966 to 1995 and theyhave four daughters.