Respectfully, I call on the African People to cease the bad habit of referring to government officials as “Excellency”.
Not only is this a colonial hangover, but it is not applicable for most African officials today. Excellence is an honorable status of demonstrated elite performance and achievement in public service!
A position does not make you “Excellent”, but only your consistent deeds of genuine service throughout your tenure that advances the welfare of the people. Based on that criteria, who then deserves to be called “Excellency” in Africa today?
Many politicians get into office, often not even in free and fair elections, but through “Selectocracy”. Then, without achieving anything or proving value, they are showered with “Excellency”. Even if they are abominable, detrimental to progress, corrupt, and negligent… they are still “Excellency”.
I cringe whenever I hear “His/Her Excellency” and I cannot reconcile the said Person with the genuine sense of Excellence.
When you give a person an unearned title of honor, you only harm them by flattering their vanity. It only breed’s a condescending arrogance instead of genuine humility.
Look across all governments in post-independence Africa and especially today. Honestly scrutinize and objectively assess their individual contributions and value to African nation-building, then candidly confess: how many are genuinely deserving of Excellency? What achievements can they show that demonstrates Excellence? We should also apply the same scrutiny to ourselves.
Excellency should be awarded over a lifetime of achievement and dedicated labor to uplifting the people. It should not be so cheaply given because someone is “Minister” or “President”. Respect should be given not because you have a position, but you exemplify the qualities demanded by the position!
I also believe any self-respecting African official will feel intuitively uncomfortable with the “Excellency” title, when they know they have not earned it through diligent deeds that show their tangible achievements over a long period.
I say this out of a deed sense of respect for the notion of “Excellency”. In Africa, we need to raise titles and positions again to honor. Officials should not be endowed with Excellence because they occupy a position, but only because they consistently perform their work Excellently!
After a lifetime of such genuine service and achievement, only then should an official who has struggled for the African Cause and its People, who has laid everything on the line… only then should they be anointed with the honorable “Your Excellency”.
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA
Builder of the African Future
Nation Upbuilding 