Aleqa Hammond

Aleqa Hammond
5th Prime Minister of Greenland
In office 5 April 2013 – 30 September 2014
Monarch	Margrethe II
Deputy	Doris Jakobsen
Preceded by	Kuupik Kleist
Succeeded by	Kim Kielsen (acting)
Leader of Siumut
In office 2 June 2009 – 17 October 2014
Deputy	Hans Enoksen
Preceded by	Hans Enoksen
Succeeded by	Kim Kielsen
Member of the Danish Parliament for Siumut
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 June 2015
Preceded by	Doris Jakobsen
Personal details
Born	(1965-09-23) 23 September 1965 Narsaq, Greenland
Political party	Siumut
Alma mater	HF at Avannaani Ilunniarnertuunngorniarfik
Religion	New Apostolic Church
Website	Official Facebook

Aleqa Hammond (born 23 September 1965) is a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish Folketing (parliament). Formerly the leader of the Siumut party, she became the country's first female Prime Minister after her party emerged as the largest parliamentary faction in the 2013 elections.^[1] In 2014 she stepped down as Prime Minister and leader of Siumut, following a case of misuse of public funds.

Biography

Born in Narsaq, Hammond grew up in Uummannaq.^[2] Her father Piitaaraq Johansen died on a hunting trip when she was seven after falling through the ice.^[3] She attended Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit between 1989 and 1991, before studying at the University of Greenland from 1991 until 1993.^[2] Her studies were never completed.

In 1993, she began working for Greenland Tourism as a Regional Co-ordinator in Disko Bay. In 1994, she used a hotel room and knowingly supplied a credit card which had been blocked (from prior abuse) to cover the kr 5,000 bill, and she was convicted of fraud in 1996.^[4] In 1995, she became the Information Officer in the Cabinet secretariat, before working for Nuuk Tourism from 1996 until 1999. Between 1999 and 2003, she was commissioner of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and also worked on the 2002 Arctic Winter Games. From 2004 to 2005 she worked in the tourism industry in Qaqortoq as a tourist guide.^[2]

She was first elected to the Parliament of Greenland in November 2005,^[5] and was appointed Minister for Families and Justice.^[6] In 2007, she became Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, but resigned in 2008 officially in protest of the size of the government's budget deficit.^[3]

After the party lost the 2009 elections, she replaced Hans Enoksen as party leader. In the 2013 elections, she received the highest-ever number of personal votes.^[7] As the prime minister she hopes to experience that Greenland becomes an independent country. She says: "We are talking about building a nation on a mental level. We will stand up as a people and demand what is rightfully ours. We will take responsibility for ourselves and for our families. And as politicians we will take responsibility for our country".^[8] On October 1, 2014, Hammond took a leave of absence as she is investigated for an expense scandal.^[9] Kim Kielsen became Acting Prime Minister, and also succeeded her as leader of the Siumut party.

In 2015 Hammond was elected to the Danish Folketing in the general elections. With 3,745 votes, she gained the highest number of personal votes in Greenland.^[10]

She is a member of the New Apostolic Church.^[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aleqa Hammond.

• Aleqa Hammond on Facebook

Prime Ministers of Greenland
	Jonathan Motzfeldt (1979–1991) Lars Emil Johansen (1991–1997) Jonathan Motzfeldt (1997–2002) Hans Enoksen (2002–2009) Kuupik Kleist (2009–2013) Aleqa Hammond (2013–2014) Kim Kielsen (2014–)