GUY SCOTT APPOINTED ACTING ZAMBIA PRESIDENT

A white man Guy Scott has been appointed as the acting president of Zambia 24hrs after Michael Sata died age 77.
Presidential elections to choose a permanent successor will be
held within 90 days, Defence Minister Edgar Lungu said.
Mr Scott, who is of Scottish descent, becomes Africa’s first
white head of state for many years.
Mr Sata died in the UK aged 77 after receiving treatment for an
undisclosed illness.
He was being treated at London’s King Edward VII hospital
where he died on Tuesday night.
‘Beloved comrade’
Mr Scott regularly stood in for the president at official events,
but was never appointed acting president when Mr Sata was
abroad – so this is his first time to officially lead the country.
Guy Scott
Often disparagingly referred to as the “ceremonial vice-
president”
He was born in 1944 in what was then Northern Rhodesia after
father emigrated from Glasgow to work as a doctor on the
railways
A Cambridge-trained economist, he entered politics in 1990
joining the MMD which won the first multiparty elections the
next year
As agricultural minister he oversaw the recovery from a
devastating drought in 1992/93
He joined Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front (PF) in 2001
Appointed vice-president in September 2011 after the PF’s
election victory
As his parents were not born in Zambia, a constitutional clause
requiring the president to be a “third generation” Zambian
may nullify any attempt to run for president
Guy Scott’s rise to Zambia’s presidency
In a brief televised address Mr Scott confirmed his appointment.
“The period of national mourning will start today. We will miss
our beloved president and comrade,” Reuters news agency
quotes him as saying.
The president’s death comes just days after Zambia celebrated
the 50th anniversary of independence from the UK.
Cabinet secretary Roland Msiska said on national TV that
President Sata’s wife and son were at his bedside.
He is the second Zambian leader to die in office after Levy
Mwanawasa in 2008.
Earlier this month reports in Zambia said that President Sata had
gone abroad for a medical check-up amid persistent speculation
that he was seriously ill – BBC world service