Wednesday 29 October 2014

GUY SCOTT

White people in positions of political power in Africa are one of the rarest breeds on the planet. After the way in which the European powers carved up the continent and then exploited it, that is perhaps not so surprising. So I applaud the appointment of Guy Scott to be interim President of Zambia.

Mr. Scott, an economist and farmer, has been Vice-President of the country since 2011, after serving as Agriculture Minister in the 1990's. The reason for his current appointment is the death in office this week of President Michael Sata, who appointed him to be his deputy. The vice-presidency doesn't hold much power, and Mr. Scott's main job is to hold things together until fresh elections are held within the next 90 days.

In those elections, Mr. Scott is unlikely to be a candidate. That is because the constitution bars people from the presidency unless they are "third generation" Zambian, which Mr. Scott is not. The clause was not put in to stop white people from running, but to debar former President Kenneth Kaunda from trying to get re-elected (Mr. Kaunda's father came from Malawi).

So Mr. Scott's tenure will not only be unusual, but probably very short. This has all the makings of a Trivial Pursuit question in 20 years' time.

Walter Blotscher

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