Guy Scott, former president of Zambia, 1944-2026
The academic and farmer was the first and only white man to lead an African democracy
Guy Scott played a role in each of Zambia’s democratic governments during a long and diverse career © Susan Walsh/AP
Guy Scott, an academic, farmer and politician who achieved the distinction of being the first and thus far only white man to lead an African democracy, has died in Lusaka aged 82. His life in many ways embodied the unusual history of Zambia, both before and after independence.
Scott was born in Livingstone, a city in what was then Northern Rhodesia, in June 1944. Over a diverse career he would cross both continents and political parties, playing a role in each of Zambia’s democratic governments, whether as an official, an adviser, a minister and, briefly, as president.
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