When it was announced that President Lt General Dr SeretseKhama Ian Khama has received the Botswana Music Union patron’s award in recognition of his support for the music industry mainly by introducing the President’s Day Music Competitions, I couldn’t resist the urge to treat the story with scepticism. The story was somewhat unbelievable to me not so much because I subscribe to Plato’s philosophical method of questioning everything until there is no reason to do so but mainly because the award sounded phony, comical, cheap and belittling the Presidency. There certainly must be restrain in honours and awards that can be given to a person of the stature of state president unless such honours are sarcastic. 
However, looking back in thought I reckoned that these countless honours and awards extended to President Khama just show the depth of decadence in our polity. It is a reminder of how expectations on the state president have lowered in ways that suggest a virtual collapse of values and leadership abilities formerly associated with greatness. In particular, President Khama is receiving far too many honours and awards that are rendering the honours system at both the national and international levels scandalous, cheap and laughable.
In many ways, the tendency for institutions to trip over each other in an attempt to honour President Khama just shows that the erstwhile noble practice of recognizing the extraordinary contribution and sacrifices of outstanding individuals has lost meaning, respect and honour. It is a reminder that the system has been hijacked by incorrigible sycophants and self-styled delusional leaders seeking illusory fame. It is however noted that some awards are given by private institutions to whomever they choose, for whatever reason they advance. It may therefore appear as though our critique of the practice is misplaced and motivated by an irresistible desire to peep into other people’s business. 
Yet, this accusation would be valid only in the event that such honours and awards were not given to someone who is internationally considered the father of the nation, the first citizen. The point is that honours and awards are an unequivocal motion of confidence in the recipient’s contribution a nation’s development and their handling of public affairs and everything outside of it. They are not cheap items for decoration. And herein is the dilemma – President Khama is accumulating these things at the same time the economy is on free fall. 
One would have expected that such recognition of good leadership be accompanied by good life for the general public – that is if such recognition is credible. It is only in a world of fiction that a state president would amass so many honours and awards for his good leadership in entirely every facet and for his impassioned support for various sectors and activities while on the other hand there is uninterrupted job cut in the public service, government parastatals and private establishments with some establishments effectively closing shop meaning that unemployment levels are reaching frightening proportions under the stewardship of the messiah.
Elsewhere it is documented that President Khama has received a number of honours and awards such as the Presidential Order of Honour; NalediYa Botswana (for which he was accused of awarding to himself). He also has Founder Officer Medal; Duty Code Order and Distinguished Service Medal. He was awarded the Conservation Award by the African Safari Club of Washington; the Hotel and Tourism Industry Award; the Paul Harris Fellow of Endangered Wildlife Trust Statesman Award; the Lions Club’s International President Medal and the Medal of Merit. He has Honorary Fellow of AAS from the Council of African Academy of Sciences given for his good leadership. In 2015 he received Honorary Doctorate in Politics from Konkuk University in South Korea and in 2016 he bagged Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Botswana. 
By any standard, these are far too many even if they do accord with his contribution and accomplishment as a prophet of local politics. Thus, their numbers create doubt in the minds of people who subscribe to purposeful scepticism especially considering that they are being awarded presumably for his exceptional leadership qualities while at the same time the quality of life of Batswana is reaching rock bottom under his meticulous watch. Fundamentally, credible honours that appropriately recognize his sacrifices and services are defiled and crowded out by such other honours that are not different from counterfeit goods sold by unlicensed vendors. 
While there is nothing wrong with one receiving heaps and heaps of well-deserved honours and awards, their numbers may suggest that the honours system has become a mere nice gesture toward President Khama with the expectation that he will reciprocate. This perspective compels one to question the integrity of those institutions that seem to be under unbearable pressure to give away the honours and awards. Consequently, the decision to honour President Khama seems perfectly more out of awe for his personality and his outstanding positive rhetoric rather than genuine recognition of his contribution, leadership qualities or achievements. 
The honours and awards are in many ways given away on the basis of President Khama’s star power of celebrity status than any meaningful accomplishments. However cynical it may appear, a compelling likelihood is that President Dr Khama gets these many honours and awards for whom he is - the charming Ian Khama who happens to be state president. Thus, the honours system has become so corrupted and meaningless that President Dr Khama’s extravagant orientation automatically entitles him to a distinction formerly associated with nobility and greatness.
Giving a man who presided over the collapse of the African Miracle and beacon of hope in a dark continent is like assigning avirtual illiterate the title of a professor of philosophy. By virtue of being a celebrity and occupying the highest office in the land, President Dr Khama can actually get all locally available honours and awards. In other words, being state president is enough for him to get the honours which would mean that the honours system is a fraud. Other than that, it is difficult to think of any extraordinary intervention he ever invented. 
Acknowledging that President Khama does not necessarily command institutions to award him dubious honours or give him stained awards, it is only proper that he be selective and accept only those that reflect his contributions and achievements while also conferring due honour on the presidency. This will demand that President Dr Khamastart declining to accept those honours and awards that devalues and insult the status of the Office of the President. President Dr Khama must emulate great men of yesteryears who disliked honours as their deeds were testimony to their greatness. The Honours syndrome must fall!