imported>TaylaGnn3143080 at 08:00, 23 April 2026

2026-04-23T08:00:04Z

New page

{{Short description|Ugandan politician (1927–1969)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = A.G. Mehta
| office = Mayor of [[Kampala, Uganda]]
| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| alma_mater = [[Queen Mary University of London]], School of Law
| party = [[Uganda People's Congress]]
| death_date = {{death date text|10 March 1969}}
| spouse = Savita Radia
| birth_place = [[Masaka, Uganda]]
| children = 6
| term_start1 = {{start date|1968|df=y}}
| term_end1 = {{end date|1969|3|10|df=y}} (died in office)
| predecessor1 = W.Y. Nega
| successor1 = Nakibinge
| office2 = Member of Parliament
| term_start2 = {{start date|1960|df=y}}
| term_end2 = {{start date|1968|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date text|1 February 1927}}
| image = The Honourable A.G. Mehta.png
| caption = Mehta in 1968
| death_place = [[Kampala, Uganda]]
}}

'''A. G. Mehta''' (1 February 1927 – 10 March 1969) was a Ugandan member of parliament, barrister and the eldest son of a prominent [[Indian people|Indian]] industrialist.<ref name=":3" /> The Honourable A.G. Mehta was elected as the first [[Indians in Uganda|Asian-Indian]] mayor of Uganda's capital [[Kampala]] in 1968 and was a close colleague of Uganda's first prime minister [[Milton Obote]]; with whom he jointly fought for the country's independence at the [[Ugandan Constitutional Conference|Uganda Constitutional Conference]] in 1961.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14088370|title=Uganda Constitutional Conference, London, September-October 1961: basic papers on the Uganda courts|publisher=Records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors|year=1961|location=The National Archives|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Meet Kampala's Mayors since Independence|url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/articledetails/1462902|access-date=|website=New Vision|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=National Assembly|first=Uganda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjZVAAAAYAAJ&q=AG+Mehta|title=Official Report|publisher=Uganda Govt. Printer|year=1968|location=Entebee|language=en}}</ref> He is credited with drafting elements of what would become the first [[Constitution of Uganda]].<ref name=":2" />[[File:The Honourable A.G. Mehta and wife Savita Radia.png|thumb|Mehta and wife Savita Radia (left) in the city council of [[Kampala|Kampala, Uganda]], 1968]]

== Education ==
A.G. Mehta was educated as a barrister at [[Queen Mary University of London]], School of Law, in [[West London]], and was legally permitted to practice law in the United Kingdom, Uganda and Kenya.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqtZRmvRqm4C&dq=AG+Mehta+kampala+1968&pg=PA139|title=Kenya Gazette|date=1968-02-09|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwFA6tKG1ewC&dq=AG+Mehta+kampala&pg=PA170|title=Kenya Gazette|date=1967-02-17|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNuP_1Z3JQYC&dq=AG+Mehta+kampala&pg=PA104|title=Kenya Gazette|date=1969-02-07|language=en}}</ref>

== Political career ==
=== Member of Parliament ===
As a member of parliament, A.G. Mehta attended the [[Ugandan Constitutional Conference|Uganda Constitutional Conference]] at [[Lancaster House]] in 1961 as part of the [[Uganda People's Congress|Uganda Peoples’ Congress]] (UPC) delegation alongside [[Milton Obote]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.llmcdigital.org/default.aspx?redir=98349|title=Uganda: report of the Uganda Constitutional Conference, 1961 and text of the agreed draft of a new Buganda agreement initialled in London on 9th October, 1961|date=1961|publisher=H.M.S.O|editor-last=Great Britain|series=Cmnd|location=London}}</ref> The conference was also attended by then Governor of Uganda, [[Frederick Crawford (colonial administrator)|Sir Frederick Crawford]], and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, [[Iain Macleod]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mukholi|first=David|title=A complete guide to Uganda's Fourth Constitution : history, politics, and the law|date=1995|publisher=Fountain Publishers|isbn=9970-02-084-6|location=Kampala, Uganda|oclc=34471548}}</ref> Recommendations produced by Mehta and other conference attendees resulted in the first [[Constitution of Uganda|Ugandan Constitution]], which took effect on 9 October 1962.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 2016|title=Uganda Constitutional Conference, 1961|url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/articledetails/1437232|access-date=|website=New Vision|language=en}}</ref>

=== Mayor of Kampala ===
A.G. Mehta was elected as the first Indian mayor of Uganda's capital city, Kampala, in 1968.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Government|first=Kampala|date=2019|title=Statistical Abstract for Kampala City|url=https://www.kcca.go.ug/media/docs/Statistical-Abstract-2019.pdf|journal=Kampala Capital City Authority|pages=16}}</ref> One week before his death in 1969, Mehta opened the first exhibition on the [[Baháʼí Faith]] in the [[National Theatre of Uganda]], where his opening address, attended by numerous East-African dignitaries, advocated pointedly for the unity of mankind.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bahai News |date=August 1969 |title=Mayor of Kampala Speaks at First Bahai Exhibit |url=https://file.bahai.media/archive/4/49/20180901025325%21Baha%27i_News_461.pdf |journal=Bahai News Published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai's of the United States |issue=461 |pages=17 |via=Bahai Media Archive}}</ref>

== 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|Porbandar, Gujarat, India]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Nair|first=Savita|date=2018|title=Despite dislocations: Uganda's Indians remaking home|journal=Africa|language=en|volume=88|issue=3|pages=492–517|doi=10.1017/S0001972018000190|s2cid=149923975|issn=0001-9720|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Mehta family were amongst the first multi-millionaires in [[East Africa]] with numerous agricultural businesses including the production of [[cotton]] and [[coffee]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gregory|first=Robert G.|title=India and East Africa a history of race relations within the British Empire 1890-1939|publisher=Clarendon Press|oclc=1248076126}}</ref>

Following his death in 1969, Mehta's widow, Savita Mehta (née Radia) and five surviving children —Avi Mehta, Asha Mehta (later [[Madhvani Group|Madhvani]]), Asita Mehta, Alka Mehta, and Aditi Mehta (later Rajani)— were exiled from Uganda by his former colleague, [[Idi Amin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=The National |title=Expulsion of Ugandan Asians |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/ugandan-asians/ |access-date= |website=The National Archives |language=en-GB}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDonald |first=Maya Asha |date=2022-03-10 |title=Three Years Ago, I Had Dinner With Vladimir Putin. What He Told Me Makes Me Fearful for Ukraine's Cultural Heritage |url=https://news.artnet.com/opinion/putin-meeting-ukraine-war-2082708 |access-date= |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-17 |title=My dinner with Putin: What a Canadian learned from her strange encounter with Russia's president |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/world/my-dinner-with-vladimir-putin |access-date= |website=Ottawa Citizen |language=en-CA}}</ref>

== 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]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Mazrui|first=Ali A.|title=Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa|publisher=University of California Press|date=1 Oct 1978|pages=347|language=English}}</ref>

Images of Mehta's political career can be found in the [[British Library]] and were digitised by the Endangered Archives Programme.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1964|title=Photo 24, EAP656/3/1/2|url=https://eap.bl.uk/item/EAP656-3-1-2-24|url-status=live|access-date=|website=British Library, Endangered Archives Programme|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113045318/https://eap.bl.uk/item/EAP656-3-1-2-24 |archive-date=2022-01-13 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

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

A. G. Mehta - Revision history

imported>TaylaGnn3143080 at 08:00, 23 April 2026