Now, unhinged and delusional, Mr Mugabe is a menace to his own people, bringing them death and despair and their country to ruin.

Just how far Mr Mugabe has parted company with reality was highlighted this week when he declared in Zimbabwe that there was "no cholera" in Zimbabwe, that the outbreak of the disease had been arrested. Except, from all credible information, that is not the situation on the ground.

According to United Nations figures, nearly 800 people have died from the disease since its outbreak several weeks ago and several thousands are affected. It has spread rapidly, and, the experts say, remains a substantial way from being arrested.

The cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, however, is no mere health issue, but a symptom of the deep political and economic crisis that Mr Mugabe has wrought upon his country in his effort at exclusive hold on power.

For several years now, Mr Mugabe, who has been in office for nearly three decades, has trampled on opponents and rigged elections. When challenged on his usurpation of democracy and failure to respect human rights, he accuses his critics of attempting to recolonise Zimbabwe and reassert white minority rule, whose overthrow he led.

Months ago, this newspaper, like many people around the world, hoped that better was in store for the people of Zimbabwe.

Rigged elections

After earlier rigged elections that maintained Mr Mugabe as president but failed to maintain his ZANU-PF party as the parliamentary majority, the president signed a power-sharing agreement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in which the MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, would become prime minister, with substantial authority. Since then, however, Mr Mugabe has sought to frustrate the agreement by seeking to hold on to key Cabinet posts for his party.

It is time, we believe, that Jamaica and the Caribbean send a clear and firm signal to Mr Mugabe that not only has he become an embarrassment to people of African descent in this region, but to freedom-loving people around the world. In the case of Jamaica, in 1996, this country bestowed on Mr Mugabe the prestigious Order of Jamaica, the country's fourth-highest national honour, for his contribution to the liberation of Southern Africa from apartheid and white-minority rule and the "pursuit of human development throughout the African continent".

Mr Mugabe has betrayed both the letter and spirit and the implied commitments of an OJ and is, therefore, unworthy of holding a Jamaican national honour. In the circumstances, the Jamaican Government is obliged, in as public a fashion as possible, to withdraw the award from Mr Mugabe.

Moreover, at their summit in July, Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders, having frowned on Mr Mugabe's antics, urged that he seek a political settlement in his country and hinted, if he failed, at unspecified action. Now that Mr Mugabe has stomped on the agreement with the MDC and has ruined a path to reconciliation and recovery in Zimbabwe, Caricom must act, starting, we suggest, with the suspension of diplomatic relations with Harare.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.