Dr Guy Scott (born 1 June 1944) is a Zambian politician. He is currently the
Vice President of Zambia and a member of the Patriotic Front (PF).
Personal Details
Scott was born in 1944 in Livingstone. He completed his education in Southern
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the United Kingdom at Cambridge University and
University of Sussex where he obtained a degree in economics and a PhD in
cognitive science[1]. He is married and currently resides in Lusaka.
[edit]Professional Achievements
After graduating from Cambridge University in 1965, Scott joined the government
of the Republic of Zambia where he served in the Ministry of Finance as a
planner. He was also the deputy editor of the Business and Economy of East and
Central Africa during this period.
In 1970, Scott left the government to become an entrepreneur and set up Walkover
Estate, an agribusiness venture, which ventured into high value crops such as
irrigated wheat, strawberries, and a wide range off season vegetables. In 1978,
he co-founded the Mpongwe Development Company alongside with the Commonwealth
Development Corporation. He then went on to engage in lecturing and research in
robotics at Oxford University during the 1980's.
[edit]Political Career
In 1990, Scott joined active politics and joined the Movement for Multi-Party
Democracy (MMD) where he was elected to serve as Chair of the agriculture
committee at the first convention. His participation in Zambian politics was
inspired by his late father who was an ally of Zambian nationalists and a
founder of anti-colonial government newspapers including the African Mail, now
the Zambia Daily Mail. During the 1950's, his father was a member of the federal
parliament for Lusaka, standing on an independent ticket.
Scott was nominated as an MMD candidate for Mpika in the National Assembly
during the 1991 general election. He was elected and subsequently appointed as
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. He presided over a number of policy
reforms and was responsible for managing the very dangerous food situation that
developed after the "drought of the century" in January and February of 1992.
There was no reserve maize in Zambia and none in southern Africa, so emergency
arrangements had to be made to import it from overseas and move it into Zambia
on dilapidated rail and road networks. He also oversaw the drought recovery
"bumper harvest" of 1992/93.
In 1996, Scott resigned from the MMD to form the Lima Party together with Ben
Kapita, the then-president of the ZNFU. He piloted the merger between the Lima
Party and other parties including Dean Mungomba's ZADECO to form ZAP. However,
he later left ZAP and concentrated on his agricultural consultancy company. In
2001, he joined the Patriotic Front and returned to politics. He returned to the
National Assembly when he was elected as the member for Lusaka Central in the
2006 general election.
