Acting Zambian president Guy Scott. PHOTO BY AFP
IN SUMMARY
Protests. Guy Scott gave his defence minister and powerful secretary general of the PF party Edgar Lungu marching orders on Monday and in a matter of hours, riots broke out in the capital Lusaka, including the University of Zambia and a government building designated for Sata’s mourners to gather
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta recently left tongues wagging when he walked to parliament and surprised legislators. Opposition MPs had expected him to make a case for him not to travel to The Hague-based International Criminal Court and chose to boycott the august house.
He instead announced he was handing over the presidency to his loyal deputy William Ruto and would fly to Netherlands, attend the status conference of his case where he is facing charges for crimes against humanity following the blood bath in 2007 Kenyan elections.
All colours of jokes littered social media, with some beseeching Ruto to announce Kenyatta was no longer president. Ruto had so much power in his hands to do so much in so little a time.
Thus is the power and perks the presidency comes with, the type Uganda’s fourth president Godfrey Binaisa alluded to when he made the famous statement, “Entebbe ewoma”. The presidency in literal terms, he said, is such a sweet thing.
Events in Zambia
There is something bizarre about that position and the way its power gets to the head of its holders. The speed and momentum with which events are unfolding in Zambia, for instance, makes fertile imagination for Binaisa’s appreciation of the presidency and the rich connotative implications it comes with.
Dr Guy Scott, the acting president, has only 90 days to lead the nation into a by-election. The constitution gives the Cambridge-trained economist power to act in full capacity as president, so the tag acting president is really of no tangible consequence. That is to say, he can do as and how he wishes, especially in so far as that is within the constitutional confines of the number one office in the land.
Reading from the script of events in the South African nation, which is still mourning Micheal Sata who breathed his last in a London hospital at 77, Dr Scott is a man determined and set to turn tables upside down.
The son to a Scottish father and an English mother sacked Mr Edgar Lungu, Zambia’s ruling party’s secretary-general even before their deceased boss’ remains could be lowered into his grave.
We shall return to the dynamics of this later but it is prudent to point out from the onset that Lungu is a key player in the political chess board of Zambia. First, he is the erstwhile secretary general of the Patriotic Front (PF), a position that brings with it political weight, thanks partly, to the vantage point in which it puts the beholder.
Sacked prime minister of Uganda Amama Mbabazi, who was until recently the secretary general (SG) of the ruling National Resistance Movement party it is reported, had to be booted out of that position.
Sacked for his perceived presidential ambitions against President Museveni, now in power for 28 years and clearly still wetting his appetite to extend the reign, Mr Mbabazi had to be left with no snowflake in hell chance of resuscitating his diminished political star.
He had to be stripped of the SG job which accords him access to the party’s underground mobilisation network and machinery. This is not new. Former president Milton Obote too had his own share of hide and seek with secretary generals of the Uganda Peoples Congress.
To date, the SG job is appointive in a number of respectable political parties in Africa and Uganda’s NRM is mulling over the same position with proposals to have the SG appointed by the party chairman.
It appears, from media reports in Zambia, that the controversial Scott who once admitted in an interview that former US president George W. Bush could not believe it when he was introduced as vice president, has his own eye set on another person either within or out of the ruling party whom he desires to see in state house.
This has to be tested against the reality of Lungu whose influence in the country in general and PF in particular is written right on the wall. If you are Scott and you are serving or loyal to an interest group hostile to the Lungu presidential bid, you want to give yourself enough leg room to tussle your way to state house.
Depending on the magnitude of the challenge and indeed Lungu’s seems a potent one, you may actually take to decimating every chance there is of this dangerous political opponent ever ascending to the top of the political ladder. So what do you do? Even when you have 90 days to call it quits, sack Lungu from that position which he can use in the shortest time possible to drum up more political support and add a few pips to his already towering clout.
Unlike our own Mbabazi whose sacking from the coveted premier slot and later technical booting out from the SG job attracted little public outrage, save muted murmurs in the public domain, certainly the sacking of Lungu was bound to backfire. And that again, played into his favour and got Scott losing points in the public opinion scorecard.
Marching orders
Scott gave his defence minister marching orders on Monday and in a matter of hours, riots broke out in more places than one in the capital Lusaka, including the University of Zambia and a government building designated for Sata’s mourners to gather.
By Tuesday, Scott found himself hard pressed against an enraging furnace, hands and tongue tied, leaving his first, second and third option being rescinding his decision, a radical choice by any measure.
Scott has lived in Zambia since 1964. Following former president Chiluba orchestrated manipulation of the constitution, barring third generation Zambians from the presidency, Scott is ineligible to stand. He can only be a broker for another Zambian aspiring to succeed Sata whose presidency death dealt a blow hardly mid-way his term.
And of course the muzungu has had his share of experience in the country; he has lived there long enough to appreciate the strong emotional attachment Africans have to the dead, especially if they are respected elders.
How and why, then, did and could he sack Lungu even before Sata’s body was laid to rest? It was sacrilege. Such ‘small things’ can cost one a fortune in a continent where the dead are considered not dead.
When all is said and done, what remains clear is that Sata’s handing over the presidency to Lungu as and when he was taken ill, speaks volumes about his unwritten anointment as a successor. The Zambian public, at least from its actions and speech, appear friendly to this ‘anointment’ but the acting president, if his actions are not a possible foolery of the electorate, appear averse to a Lungu presidency. Who of the two will carry the day at least 100 days from now? Only time can tell.
Reaction to sacking of Lungu as secretary-general
Protester Mary Tembo was quoted by Zambian media saying Scott was causing confusion.
She urged him to “go to Scotland”, saying Zambians want to mourn their president in peace and it was an insult on their culture for Scott to start politicking while the nation mourned.
Zambian MP Davies Mwila appreciates how deep these sentiments run in the hearts and minds of the electorate. He was initially picked by Scott to replace Lungu as secretary-general of the ruling party but turned down the appointment. He said, “It is a taboo in our tradition to start politicking before burying the deceased.”
Another lawmaker, Nixon Chilangwa, accepted the appointment. Is someone within the top ranks of the party leading Scott to a political ditch? Is it a well-planned move by Lungu and the acting president to raise the former’s political profile and play into his grand political game plan?
Lungu, who remains defence and justice minister, said his dismissal was illegal and accused Scott of “insulting our culture”.
His statement had such an intoxicating impact on the mourning population that it drove hundreds to the streets.
About Scott
Mr Guy Scott became acting leader - Zambia’s first white head of state - in accordance with the country’s constitution, which requires the vice-president to assume presidential duties until elections take place within 90 days. (DAILY MONITOR)
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