I am Africa's first white democratic leader, says Zambian vice-president
Exclusive: Guy Scott, a white Cambridge-educated economist, tells the Telegraph he has been appointed acting president of Zambia
Zambia reverted to white rule on Wednesday when a Cambridge-educated economist became acting president of the country after the death of the incumbent.
Guy Scott, previously vice-president, was promoted to the top job after the demise of Michael Sata on Tuesday.
Mr Scott, 70, became the first white leader of an African country since FW de Klerk stepped down as president of South Africa in 1994 – and the first white head of a democratic government in Africa "since the Venetians".
Mr Scott, who will serve for 90 days until a new election is held, told the Telegraph that his sudden promotion was "a bit of a shock to the system", but added: "I'm very proud to be entrusted with it."
Mr Sata, 77, died on Tuesday at the King Edward VII Hospital in West London.
Until his death, the acting president of Zambia was Edga Lungu, the defence minister, but Mr Scott said he had stepped into the position, in accordance with the constitution.
"I am the acting president at the moment. It has just been passed by cabinet," he said. This made him Africa's first white president of a democratic government ever "except maybe the Venetians in the days when they ran the world," he added.
Mr Scott described this as a "bit of a shock to the system," adding: "Everyone is getting used to calling me 'Your Excellency', and I'm getting used to it. There are truckloads of guys following me on motorbikes. It's very strange."
Asked why he thought he had been chosen by the cabinet to be Zambia's interim leader, he pointed to his "seniority within the party, in government", adding:
"The president kept me as his vice-president despite a lot of efforts by people to get me taken down. And I happened to be there when he died."
He said that he last spoke to Mr Sata, who flew to London almost two weeks ago, several days ago. Asked if he had told him he wanted him to take over the presidency, he said: "He would never be so polite as to do that. But he said he was happy that I was there, to take over if needed."
Mr Lungu confirmed Mr Scott's appointment on Wednesday: "Dr Scott will act as president of the Republic of Zambia until the country goes for a presidential by election".
Under a clause in the constitution which dictates that only those whose parents were born in Zambia can be president, Mr Scott's promotion is expected to last no longer than 90 days. "I won't run for the presidency at the election because constitutionally, I can't," he said.
Zambia, formerly the British Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia, achieved independence in 1964.
Guy Scott and his wife Charlotte Harland-Scott arrive at the North Portico of the White House for a State Dinner (Getty Images)
The colourful and plain-speaking Mr Scott is popular among his countrymen.
As the agriculture minister he was credited with steering his country out of a food crisis prompted by a drought in the early 1990s.
He was born in Livingstone, Zambia, but his father was from Glasgow and emigrated to Northern Rhodesia in 1927, where he worked for as a doctor on Cecil Rhodes' railway, then a politician fighting for African rights, a lawyer and a newspaper publisher.
Mr Scott's mother was from Watford and moved to Zambia in 1940. Mr Scott studied mathematics and economics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, gained a doctorate in cognitive science from Sussex University and lectured and researched robotics at Oxford.
Two of his sons live in Britain, his daughter is studying there and another son works in Zambia.
source telegraph.co.uk
posted by Maduka Tony