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Jamaica's Government says it will not be stripping Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of the honorary Order of Jamaica conferred on him in 1996, despite Mugabe's assault on democracy that has turned world opinion against him and triggered a United Nations push for international sanctions on his regime.
"It has not come up for mention," Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the Observer yesterday, adding that it was "doubtful" the matter would be given further consideration at any point.
"We don't approve of what he is doing, but that would be an extreme measure," Golding said, adding, "I don't think the situation warrants it".
He further noted that Jamaica has never revoked a national honour.
The 84-year-old Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party insist that he was democratically re-elected president with more than 85 per cent of the vote in a one-candidate poll on June 27.
Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai had boycotted the election because of voter intimidation and violence.
Since then, some African leaders have demanded tough action against Mugabe with calls for his suspension from the African Union until he allows for a free and fair election, while the United States and its European allies have called for sanctions. On July 11, a United Nations Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Mugabe and members of his administration was vetoed by Russia and China. The African Union has, in the meantime, called for a government of national unity.
Mugabe, a hero of Africa's anti-apartheid movement, has controlled Zimbabwean politics since coming to power in 1980.
He was awarded an Order of Jamaica "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the fight for liberation and the overthrow of apartheid in Southern Africa, and his distinct leadership in the pursuit of freedom and human development throughout the African continent".
The Jamaican award, which gives him the title 'The Right Honourable', was conferred on him during the tenure of former Prime Minister P J Patterson on September 5, 1996.
The Order of Jamaica is the fourth of the five ranks in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and is considered the equivalent of knighthood in the British honours system. Membership in the Order can be conferred to any Jamaican citizen of outstanding distinction. Honorary membership in the Order can be conferred to any distinguishing citizen of a country other than Jamaica.
Mugabe holds several honorary degrees and doctorates from international universities, awarded to him in the 1980s. At least two of these have since been revoked. In June 2007, he became the first international figure ever to be stripped of an honorary degree by a British university, when the University of Edinburgh withdrew the degree awarded to him in 1984.
On June 12, 2008, the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted to revoke the law degree awarded to Mugabe in 1986, the first time one of its honorary degrees has been revoked.
In the run-up to the June 27 vote, Mugabe was stripped of an honorary knighthood conferred on him by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
Mugabe was made an honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Bath during his state visit to the United Kingdom in 1994.