Monday, July 02, 2007 Echaves: Unmasking the leaders By Lelani P. Echaves Thinking Aloud
FOR his lifetime achievements in entrepreneurship and philanthropy, businessman Norberto Quisumbing became Mandaue City’s “adopted son.” But it was withdrawn at the height of his rift with the former city mayor.
Cebu City then embraced Quisumbing as its “adopted son,” a title he hoped wouldn’t also be withdrawn from him. The dig was at the Mandaue City move.
In personal affairs, Quisumbing also became the subject of a move, this time from a family member, to be stripped of his honorary degree from a local university. Fortunately, the school did not heed what was clearly meant to embarrass the patriarch.
Imagine the multiple embarrassments for a head of state, who was stripped of his honorary doctoral degrees from three universities with the whole world watching! This was the plight of Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, as American universities are keen to follow Edinburgh University in Scotland.
The latter first awarded Mugabe in 1984. It was followed by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1986 and then the Michigan State University in 1990 —for the same reason: Mugabe was a visionary leader who helped establish the independence of his country, formerly Rhodesia, in 1979 and ended white rule by winning the first open elections as prime minister.
Today, however, various protests continue about his human rights violations, especially after no less than Zimbabwe’s main opposition party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and others were arrested, with the leader’s head smashed against a wall while in custody. Mugabe himself has bragged that he holds several “degrees in violence.” The country’s liberator has turned dictator.
The universities are, thus, taking a long, hard look at their policies regarding honorary degrees. If they’re meant for past performance, should a school monitor his future performance? Of course, awardees are, after all, supposed to be role models for students. Then this should apply as well to other recipients like US Vice-President Richard Cheney and ex-president Bill Clinton who were involved in controversies after receiving their degrees.
Shouldn’t awards be given posthumously then? An ancient Greek maxim says, “Call no man happy until he is happily buried in his grave.” After all, one who’s reached the apex of success and prosperity could still plunge to the lowest depths of misery and depravity. Mugabe is an example.
Still, the reputation of legendary dead heroes may not really be devoid of some stain. Former American presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have been questioned, in fact, about their histories being sanitized of their status as slaveholders.
Others insist on a probation period. The liberator must be succeeded, through a democratic election, before an honorary degree is conferred on him. Mugabe, for instance, could have served his country after being elected and then leave the presidency honorably with a democratic system intact? Nelson Mandela did this; Mugabe could’ve done the same.
Alas, power unmasks the leader for who he truly is.
