Ahmad Khwaja: Southend's community champion

Ahmad Khwaja is a man of many firsts – the first BME appointed governor of a local grammar school, the first BME elected to to be the chair of the Conservative Association in his area, and the first Muslim magistrate in Southend.

Since arriving at Heathrow in 1967 from his native India, the now 72-year-old has given his life to civil service and politics for the good of others.

In 2004, he founded and still chairs the groundbreaking Southend Ethnic Minority Forum (SEMF) to encourage integration and cooperation between diverse ethnicities, races, and religions in his community.

Since SEMF’s formation, Southend has had one of the lowest race hate crime records in Essex. Khwaja said:

I believe and advocate that the best way to achieve cohesion is by social interaction. My vision is to make an integrated society, thereby ensuring that an individual’s origins, backgrounds, and skin colour do not determine the part he or she can play in society... and to foster the co-existence of all cultures, whether minority or majority.”

Khwaja’s journey towards social activism began halfway around the world on his family’s sugarcane farm in northern India. There, he was exposed to politics early on in his life by his politically active father.

He had aspirations to enter the sugar manufacturing business, but when the opportunity arose to migrate to England, Khwaja seized it.

Khwaja was successful in a civil service competition and began work at the Royal Mint and HM Custom and Excise where he stayed until his retirement. He joined the Conservative Party in the mid-eighties, and jumped into campaigning. He said:

I spent many rainy and cold evenings and warm afternoons knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and newsletters.”

For the 2010 General Election, Khwaja set a goal to visit every house in the Victoria Ward of over 7000 people. He succeeded in this goal, and took over one hundred cases of the residents to the Council, helping to nearly double Conservatives votes in that ward for the election.

In 2011, Khwaja participated in OBV’s Parliamentary Shadowing Scheme for five months. During that time he shadowed Conservative Peer Sir Peter Bottomley and attending interviews, PM’s Question Time, all-party parliamentary groups, and visited the constiuency. Reflecting back, Khwaja said:

I found the scheme to be very worthwhile. I learned about the manner in which the country is governed, and the ways and means in which we can make our small contributions.”

In addition to his civil service employment and political activism, Khwaja has volunteered in nearly every public sector of society – schools, courts, employment tribunal, police authority, and the NHS trust – for the past 25 years.

His main work though, has been to pioneer the Southend Ethnic Minority Forum, which hosts community gatherings, dialogues, and arts events to eliminate discrimination and encourage harmony in diversity. He said:

We believe that SEMF is taking a lead in building bridges between local communities, in forming friendships, and in working to achieve justice and equality. It seems to bear fruit.”

Khwaja said the greatest lesson he has learned from his extensive experience in civil service and politics is the power of the vote in affecting social change. He said:

You can change things by using the ballot box”

SEMF will hold its Annual General Meeting on Nov. 21 to discuss equality and diversity, with OBV’s director Simon Woolley as the keynote speaker. One of the purposes of the event is to promote political engagement among participants. Khwaja said:

What we hope to achieve is that people will be motivated to participate in campaigns.”

Ahmad Khwaja practices what he preaches. For the last 30 years, he has given his life as a pioneering champion of social integration and ethnic harmony – and he doesn’t show signs of stopping any time soon.

Mallory Moench