Kenneth Kuanda

I share Lord Steel’s astonishment that the Scotsman did not report the death of Kenneth Kuanda, Zambia’s first President. This letter, by Lord Steel, was published in the Scotsman on the 21st June 2021.

Two of my uncles, John Gibson Scott and Guy Scott, met with Kenneth Kuanda.


John Gibson Scott  (1932-2012) was my mother’s brother and worked in Africa as an Economist.

John Gibson Scott was at dinner with President Kuanda when a signal was brought in reporting the attempt on the life of Idi Amin in Uganda. “Successful, I hope” he quoted the President as saying.


My uncle, Guy Lindsay Scott [a full cousin of my grandfather], became Africa’s only white president on the death of President Sata on the 28th October 2014. He was in office until the following year.