.
Search
Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad
Beneficiary says Sakku should come clean

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Oct 23/02) - Levinia (Nuqalaaq) Brown of Rankin Inlet is fed up with the difficulties in obtaining information from the Sakku Investments Corp.

The beneficiary says Inuit have the right to know what's going on with Sakku -- the investment arm of the parent Kivalliq Inuit Association (KIA).

The KIA, which is holding its annual general meeting in Rankin this week, recently replaced the entire Sakku board with its own executive board members. Brown says Sakku has been operating in secrecy for far too long and it's time the investment firm told beneficiaries the truth about its financial standing -- good or bad.

She says she's been frustrated in the past by her own attempts to gain financial information from Sakku.

"I'm a beneficiary and I've tried in the past to get Sakku to show me its financial standing and was told to come to a meeting," says Brown. "When I'd go to the meeting to ask questions, I'd be told those topics weren't on the agenda and still not get any answers."

Brown says Kivalliq beneficiaries should be outraged over the failed negotiations between Sakku and the Nunavut government on the construction of a regional health facility.

She says it's time beneficiaries spoke up and demanded answers from both Sakku and the KIA.

"Beneficiaries deserve to know what the problems were in the health centre negotiations. If it was a matter of profit for Sakku, how much profit was the company looking for to do a project that benefits all of the Kivalliq so much?"

Brown says it's her opinion Sakku board members have been more interested in taking care of themselves than the interests of the people they are supposed to represent.

She says Kivalliqmiut need assurances the new board is going to take a more accountable direction and be open with information affecting beneficiaries.

"I'm tired of all the nepotism associated with that organization and its members profiting while beneficiaries get nothing. It's time for Sakku to hold a public meeting and open its books once and for all so we all know what, exactly, is going on with the money it handles."