| |
| Office | Mayor of Kampala, Uganda
|
|---|---|
| Office | Member of Parliament
|
| Predecessor | W.Y. Nega |
| Successor | Nakibinge
|
| Born | Template:Birth date text |
| Born | Masaka, Uganda |
| Died | Template:Death date text |
| Place of death | Kampala, Uganda
|
| Political party | Uganda People's Congress |
| Spouse | Savita Radia |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Queen Mary University of London, School of Law
|
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.[1] The Honourable A.G. Mehta was elected as the first 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 Uganda Constitutional Conference in 1961.[2][3][4] He is credited with drafting elements of what would become the first Constitution of Uganda.[5]
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.[6][7][8]
Political career
Member of Parliament
As a member of parliament, A.G. Mehta attended the Uganda Constitutional Conference at Lancaster House in 1961 as part of the Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) delegation alongside Milton Obote.[9] The conference was also attended by then Governor of Uganda, Sir Frederick Crawford, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Iain Macleod.[10] Recommendations produced by Mehta and other conference attendees resulted in the first Ugandan Constitution, which took effect on 9 October 1962.[5]
Mayor of Kampala
A.G. Mehta was elected as the first Indian mayor of Uganda's capital city, Kampala, in 1968.[3][11] 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.[12]
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.[1] The Mehta family were amongst the first multi-millionaires in East Africa with numerous agricultural businesses including the production of cotton and coffee.[13]
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.[14]
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.[15][16]
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.[17]
Images of Mehta's political career can be found in the British Library and were digitised by the Endangered Archives Programme.[18]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Despite dislocations: Uganda's Indians remaking home. Africa({Template:Date).
- ↑ Uganda Constitutional Conference, London, September-October 1961: basic papers on the Uganda courts{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors(1961)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Meet Kampala's Mayors since Independence. New Vision.
- ↑ Official Report{{#if:National Assembly|, National Assembly}. Uganda Govt. Printer(1968)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Uganda Constitutional Conference, 1961. New Vision(October 2016).
- ↑ Kenya Gazette{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1968-02-09)
- ↑ Kenya Gazette{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1967-02-17)
- ↑ Kenya Gazette{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1969-02-07)
- ↑ 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{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. H.M.S.O(1961)
- ↑ A complete guide to Uganda's Fourth Constitution : history, politics, and the law{{#if:Mukholi|, Mukholi}. Fountain Publishers(1995). ISBN 9970-02-084-6
- ↑ Statistical Abstract for Kampala City. Kampala Capital City Authority({Template:Date).
- ↑ Mayor of Kampala Speaks at First Bahai Exhibit. Bahai News Published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai's of the United States({Template:Date).
- ↑ India and East Africa a history of race relations within the British Empire 1890-1939{{#if:Gregory|, Gregory}. Clarendon Press
- ↑ Expulsion of Ugandan Asians, Archives, The National. The National Archives.
- ↑ Three Years Ago, I Had Dinner With Vladimir Putin. What He Told Me Makes Me Fearful for Ukraine's Cultural Heritage, McDonald, Maya Asha. Artnet News(2022-03-10).
- ↑ My dinner with Putin: What a Canadian learned from her strange encounter with Russia's president. Ottawa Citizen(2022-03-17).
- ↑ Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa{{#if:Mazrui|, Mazrui}. University of California Press(1 Oct 1978)
- ↑ Photo 24, EAP656/3/1/2. British Library, Endangered Archives Programme(1964).