The upshot of the same is thematic and consists in a real or imagined economic transformation journey that the nation has freshly embarked upon. Let us not be fooled. This journey is 54 years old. There is no running away from that reality, and there is no fooling the public that it’s a new era. I do not say that it has been doom and gloom; far from it. But I do say that in terms of the touted “economic transformation” (as distinct from governance and infrastructure development), it has been a journey to nowhere.
As such, the speech constitutes a poor apology for the fifty plus years in which the same mantra has been sung with no tangible results. I notice, in particular, a crafty, semantic deviance from the fifty year old mantra of “economic diversification” to “economic transformation”. I had a hard time trying to locate the distinction. In the end, I have concluded that same constitutes empty rhetoric. Transformation is not development; on the contrary it is adaptation; a survival imperative. The imperative of economic diversification as such, remains relevant if economic development is to be a priority. No one doubts government’s commitment to economic transformation, whatever that means. The trouble is that the dream of vision 2036 and economic transformation, hangs on the coattails of an undeniable record of inability after ten five year long indulgences.
