We are a country that never loved itself. We don’t know what’s good for us. We don’t appreciate what’s positive for our country. Late last year reports started circulating that renowned development economist Professor Roman Grynberg will be packing his bags and heading for Namibia because Botswana doesn’t seem to appreciate his immense contribution. At the time I just thought to myself, “well someone must be very drunk and they will soon get sober and realize there is no way we can let go of this decorated Professor.” That was not to be. Reality is now hitting me hard because Professor Grynberg has left Botswana, if media reports are anything to go by.
The saddest part about his departure though is that he is being forced to vamoose. And no, he is not leaving our country because he is fed up with our perennial load-shedding and water rationing. He is leaving this country because he has had enough of our people’s pettiness and unprofessionalism. Well, he hasn’t said it exactly in those words. This is how he was quoted by a local publication: “I don’t want to leave BIDPA or Botswana, but BIDPA’S Chief Executive Officer’s management style makes it difficult for me to stay.” This made it very clear that the good Professor was not leaving a happy man and he will not look back at his time in Botswana with a sense of pride and achievement because of the hostile working environment he endured courtesy of his boss at BIDPA. For some of us who have the best interest of this country at heart, the departure of Professor Grynberg is very much regrettable and hurtful.
For some of us who are not schooled in economics and policy issues, Professor Grynberg was our conduit to comprehension. His well researched analysis, always devoid of verbiage and sugarcoating, made economics such an interesting subject and helped us develop interest in economic matters. As he leaves Botswana, or BIDPA for that matter, Professor Grynberg must be assured that his stay here was very much welcome by most of us and that his scholarly research, which he was not stingy to share with us through his regular contributions in local newspapers, has indeed left an indelible mark in many spheres of our economy and governance. We will always hold him in high regard. His fall out with a few individuals at BIDPA should in no way leave him timorous. He remains resourceful and should forever remain resolute in his professional conviction. The solace though is, by being in holy matrimony with our daughter (he married my home girl), Professor Grynberg will forever remain one of us.
Professor Grynberg is known for speaking his mind and for speaking for the oppressed and the vulnerable and this could have led to his downfall at BIDPA. He burnt his fingers before while he was Director of Economic Governance at the Pacific Islands Forum. He took sides in favor of the small island states and this led to his downfall because he was expected to tow the line and conform to mediocrity and injustice. Professor Grynberg is someone who is not afraid to speak firmly against fascism and other forms of totalitarianism and I have my suspicions he fell out with his bosses at BIDPA because of his nerve to speak truth to power.
It is disheartening to learn that such an important institution like BIDPA is losing lettered professionals “because of the way staff members are being treated by the Chief Executive Officer”. Professor Grynberg joined BIDPA in 2009 and he came here because of this country’s good reputation. How sad that he now leaves this country because of our people’s bad reputation of not embracing excellence. BIDPA is not the only institution that is losing foreigners of high repute. BIUST has lost Vice Chancellor Professor Hilary Inyang. He too left on a sour note after he complained of external interference on his leadership. He complained that there was a lot of interference and sabotage by some members of the university council, who by the way sit in that council not necessarily by merit but through political connections. There was also David Falepau who was forced to resign as Chief Executive of Botswana Meat Commission just because of personal grudges between him and some members of the BMC board. There are quite a number of other expatriate professionals who have been frustrated to a point of no return. While some of them opt to leave silently, surely they speak out when they get back to their countries. It’s unfortunate that they go back with nothing positive to say about us. For how long are we going to frustrate these professionals and force them to regret ever setting foot in our country?
How different are we from those South Africans who wanted to get rid of foreigners? The only difference I see here is that the pain of our xenophobia is not as physically inflicted as it was in South Africa. Given a choice, I would settle for a hardworking foreigner at the expense of local mediocrity. Tota gatwe re loilwe ke mang?
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