A. G. Mehta (1 February 1927 – 10 March 1969) was a Ugandan member of parliament, barrister and the eldest son of a prominent Indian industrialist. The Honourable A.G. Mehta was elected as the first Asian-Indian mayor of Uganda's capital

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

in 1968 and was a close colleague of Uganda's first prime minister

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985. A Lango, ...

; with whom he jointly fought for the country's independence at the Uganda Constitutional Conference in 1961. He is credited with drafting elements of what would become the first

Constitution of Uganda The Constitution of Uganda is the supreme law of Uganda. The fourth and current constitution was promulgated on 8 October 1995. It sanctions a republican form of government with a powerful President. The first Constitution was adopted in 1962 onl ...

Education

A.G. Mehta was educated as a barrister at

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

, School of Law, in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

, and was legally permitted to practice law in the United Kingdom, Uganda and Kenya.

Political career

Member of Parliament

As a member of parliament, A.G. Mehta attended the Uganda Constitutional Conference at

Lancaster House Lancaster House (originally known as York House and then Stafford House) is a mansion on The Mall, London, The Mall in the St James's district in the West End of London. Adjacent to The Green Park, it is next to Clarence House and St James ...

in 1961 as part of the Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) delegation alongside

. The conference was also attended by then Governor of Uganda, Sir Frederick Crawford, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies,

Iain Macleod Iain Norman Macleod (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. A playboy and professional Contract bridge, bridge player in his twenties, after war service Macleod worked for the ...

. Recommendations produced by Mehta and other conference attendees resulted in the first Ugandan Constitution, which took effect on 9 October 1962.

Mayor of Kampala

A.G. Mehta was elected as the first Indian mayor of Uganda's capital city, Kampala, in 1968. One week before his death in 1969, Mehta opened the first exhibition on the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

in the National Theatre of Uganda, where his opening address, attended by numerous East-African dignitaries, advocated pointedly for the unity of mankind.

Family

A. G. Mehta was born the eldest son of the Mehta family, one of Kampala's longest-standing and most prominent Indian families originally hailing from Porbandar, Gujarat, India. The Mehta family were amongst the first multi-millionaires in

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

with numerous agricultural businesses including the production of

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

. Following his death in 1969, Mehta's widow, Savita Mehta (née Radia) and five surviving children —Avi Mehta, Asha Mehta (later Madhvani), Asita Mehta, Alka Mehta, and Aditi Mehta (later Rajani)— were exiled from Uganda by his former colleague,

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...

. Mehta's granddaughter is Maya Asha McDonald, a British-Canadian art historian and journalist known best for her 2022 op-ed on Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

Publications and institutions

A.G. Mehta's role in establishing the first Constitution of Uganda in 1962 is recorded in Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui's 1978 book ''Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa'' published by the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

. Images of Mehta's political career can be found in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

and were digitised by the Endangered Archives Programme.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, A. G. 1969 deaths Mayors of Kampala Ugandan people of Indian descent Alumni of Queen Mary University of London 20th-century Ugandan politicians Uganda People's Congress politicians Members of the Parliament of Uganda 20th-century Ugandan lawyers 1927 births