It’s often said that history does not repeat itself but, that was the case at the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s (UTT’s) O’Meara Campus on Wednesday when executive chairman of the Ansa Mcal Group, Anthony Norman Sabga, was conferred a second honorary doctorate.
Sabga received an honorary doctor of laws in the areas of business and entrepreneurship.
It’s the first time, UTT has conferred an honorary doctorate to someone who received one from another institution.
An honorary doctorate is an academic degree for which a university has waived the requirements, such as matriculation and the passing of exams.
The degree is often conferred as a way of honouring a person’s contribution to a specific field or to society.
In 2015, an honorary degree of Doctors of Law (LLD) was conferred on Dr Sabga by the University of the West Indies alongside his father, the late Anthony N Sabga, for his legendary contributions in the sphere of entrepreneurship.
It was the first time an honorary doctorate was ever conferred to a father and son.
Head of the Emancipation Support Committee, Khafra Kambon, was another recipient of an honorary doctorate from UTT on Wednesday.
He was conferred an honorary doctor of Humane Letters in the areas of culture and civil activism.
In delivering remarks, Kambon said the honour comes exactly 50 years after receiving his bachelor’s degree.
He said inequality across the country has been increasing both at the level of social class and ethnicity.
He pointed to areas he believes have been challenging this country’s harmony including “cultural values and mindsets representing a troubling reversal of the psychological gains of the black power movement”.
Over the last several years, Kambon said there has been a return of the disparagement of the African phenotype.
This he noted was recently reflected when an afro-Trinidadian female student of a school in Princes Town was disciplined for portraying her natural hair.
He encouraged the UTT graduates to look pass their academic capacities and consciously contribute to the country’s development.
According to him, “in a country filled with BSCs, MSCs and PHDs we are lacking some of the fundamental elements necessary to develop a functional society that can overcome the legacies of colonialism”.