AS the Western media is bemused by the appointment of a white president (Guy Scott) in Africa (Zambia), many Africans mourn the death of one of their finest sons, Michael Chilufya Sata who died at the King Edward VII Hospital in London on October 28 2014.
However, his death has been overshadowed by the ascendancy of Guy Scott, a white Zambian, to Zambia’s presidency.
To many people, especially Western media, that news is more interesting than the death of a black president.
I have nothing against Guy Scott.
He is an African and one of us, but I think Michael Sata deserves more coverage in the media.
On October 29 2014 The Telegraph (October 28) wrote: ‘Zambia president Michael Sata dies in London’, and went on to write that, “Under the constitution, Mr Sata’s white Vice-President Guy Scott should now take over until elections in 90 days, but he is barred from taking office because his parents were not born in Zambia.”
Two hours later, The Telegraph published another post: “I am Africa’s first white democratic leader, says Zambian Vice-President,” followed by: “Exclusive: Guy Scott, a white Cambridge-educated economist, has been appointed acting president of Zambia.
“Mr Scott, 70, became the first white leader of an African country since FW de Klerk stepped down as president of South Africa in 1994 – and the first white head of a democratic government in Africa since the Venetians.”
The Guardian Newspaper’s first two instalments focussed on Sata’s death and an obituary.
The first article written by Matthew Weaver, read: ‘Zambia’s President Michael Sata dies in London’.
Later, Stephen Chan wrote Sata’s obituary: ‘Michael Sata obituary: Forceful and ruthless president of Zambia nicknamed King Cobra’.
Both writers paid less attention to Guy Scott’s ascendancy to presidency with Chan only mentioning him (Scott) for his role in handling Chinese relations with Zambia during his vice presidency.
Namwali Serpell (October 30) of The Guardian, who also focused on Guy Scott, argued that it showed a political progress in Zambia.
He commented: “The world may be shocked that Guy Scott is white – but for Zambians it’s a sign of political progress, akin to the US electing Obama.”
The BBC News (October 29 2014) ran two news items focussing on Guy Scott’s rare entry into Zambian’s presidency as well as the constitutional limitations barring him to run for presidency.
In one bulletin, it wrote: ‘Guy Scott’s rise to Zambia’s presidency’ and went on to say, “Zambia will have the unusual image of a white president following the death of the incumbent Michael Sata.”
A few hours later, it ran another headline: ‘Zambian President Sata death: White interim leader appointed’, before reporting that: “Mr Scott, who is of Scottish descent, becomes Africa’s first white head of state for many years.”
While former BBC Zambia correspondent, Penny Dale, wrote an obituary for Michael Sata it focused more on the negatives, his failures rather than achievements.
She wrote: “When Mr Sata was elected in 2011, he looked as if he would keep his election promises to tackle corruption and create jobs and prosperity.
“But three years into his five-year term, his administration was tarnished by a crackdown on the political opposition.
“His declining health was mirrored by the declining economy, and he left behind an impoverished country with one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.”
The Wall Street Journal (October 29 2014) ran a headline: ‘Zambia President Michael Sata Dies: Death Raises Questions about who will take charge of the country’ before making an assertion that his death left behind, “a bounty of acerbic comments and a murky race to succeed him”.
The South African news channel eNCA went further to talk about how Sata’s relations with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe ruffled the feathers of the West.
They were referring to his comments in 2006, in which he was quoted by the BBC (September 28 2006), as saying: “Mugabe hasn’t done anything wrong.
“It is the imperialists, the capitalist-roaders, who say he is a villain.
“The people of Zimbabwe are not suffering.
“They are much happier.”
This statement may have earned him this negative (or less enthusiasm) reporting from Western reporters.
The Huffington Post (October 29), too, chose to pay more attention to Guy Scott.
It wrote: “Lusaka: Zambia’s Guy Scott became Africa’s first white head of state in 20 years on Wednesday after the President, ‘King Cobra’ Michael Sata, died in a London hospital aged 77.
“Scott, a Cambridge-educated economist born to Scottish parents, was Sata’s Vice-President.
“He takes over as interim leader until an election in three months, making him the first white African leader since South Africa’s F.W. de Klerk lost to Nelson Mandela in the 1994 election that ended apartheid.”
Aljazeera, on the other hand paid more attention to Michael Sata’s death: ‘Zambia’s President Michael Sata dies’, and paid less attention to Guy Scott.
Sata was controversial to many people, including in Africa and within Zambia. For example, in 2007 he was deported from Malawi when he was an opposition leader.
In September 2011 he declined to attend the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit held in Malawi stating that: “You are fully aware that your government, for no apparent reason, just because I was in Blantyre to go and see Dr Bakili Muluzi, put me
in a Land Rover and drove me all the way to the Zambian border,” he said as he declined to attend the event.
“Your government has not been kind enough or courageous enough to tell me why they treated me in that way.
“Your government has not bothered to apologise, not even to my lawyer.
“Suppose a junior immigration officer wants to embarrass me and he bundles me again (into a Land Rover), Dr Bingu wa Mutharika would be very far and he is going to behave the same way they have behaved on this one.”
In October 2008, he was asked by the then First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, to leave Levy Mwanawasa’s funeral proceedings.
She said: “Just go, please then I will respect you.
“You should not politicise Mwanawasa’s funeral, you only reconciled with President Mwanawasa and not with the family.” – (Xinhua People’s Daily Online).
Controversial as he may have been, Michael Sata was undeniably one of Africa’s finest sons, a staunch pan-Africanist who believed in the emancipation of Africans.
He came from humble beginnings as a cleaner, a porter, and a railway driver in London.
This gave him the inspiration to improve the welfare of his people.
In an interview with the UK’s Telegraph, he said, “I swept London Bridge, I swept Victoria and I enjoyed it.
“If I went to England and I was treated like a gentleman, I would not have had any resolution to look after this country.”
Rest in peace son of the soil.