Surely, some might have mused, Independence would mean just the opposite: a free operation of the market, de-regulation and an escape from colonial-style central control. In the early days the old Chamber of Brokers convened, informally in a little room, for quietly facilitating the buying and selling of private shares in local family companies.
Rather different today; but did reforms come about in a seamless way, an inescapable progression in our unfolding destiny? Indeed no; and many here can offer evidence of the immense efforts expended in achieving the difficult transition from the third to the first world – or at least the doors of the first world, for we are certainly not there yet.