Jonathan Motzfeldt

Jonathan Motzfeldt (25 September 1938 – 28 October 2010) was the first and third Prime Minister of Greenland.

From 1979 to 1988, in 1997 and from 2003 to 2008, he was Chairman of the Greenland Landsting. He was prime minister twice, from 1 May 1979 to 18 March 1991 and from 19 September 1997 to 14 December 2002. At the time of his death Motzfeldt was the current president of the West Nordic Council.

After having placed himself at the forefront of the political emancipation process that Greenland's population began in earnest in the early 1970s, Motzfeldt became synonymous with the Greenland Home Rule. In the same manner as he stepped forward borne on the shoulders of the true pioneers of the independence movement, he secured almost absolute power through a series of spectacular and often quite brutal political cleansing processess. In these purges old comrades like Lars Emil Johansen, Moses Olsen, Lars Chemnitz and Emil Abelsen were pushed into the political sidelines.

After a prolonged period with an increasingly uncontrolled alcohol abuse, and a series of spectacular scandals Motzfeldt was forced to resign as Prime Minister in 1991. However, he was awarded a number of key positions in the publicly owned portion of Greenland's economy. The post of Prime Minister thereafter went to Lars Emil Johansen. Due in part, but not exclusively, to the latter's own alcoholism, Motzfeldt took the post of Prime Minister again in 1997. He held this post until 2001, when he was forced to call new elections because of serious criticism from the parliament (the Landsting) of management of the Home Rule's economy. The post of Prime Minister then went to Enoksen. Motzfeldt was then again chairman of the Greenland Parliament. In this post he marked himself mostly as a political retreat figure who failed to contribute positively to Greenland's continuing political development. His last political year were marked by renewed abuse and uncontrolled economic consumption on travel and so-called representation.

After being reported to the police for an alleged sexual assault, he chose 18th January 2008 to resign from the post of chairman of the parliament. The case was subsequently dropped, without charges. At the post as chairman of the parliament he was succeeded by fellow party member Ruth Heilmann.

In the spring 2009 Motzfeldt was hit by a major scandal for abusing public funds for private purposes. The newspaper AG documented that up to 2008 he had let the government pay for private dinners. Also, it was the public purse that paid when the former prime minister took large amounts of alcohol. The scandal culminated when he briefly before parliamentary elections in June 2009 was denied boarding a helicopter in Qaqortoq due to intoxication. He was not re-elected in the parliament elections on 2 June 2009.