Ahmad contested in Sembawang as an independent candidate during the 1955 general election and won.

A former First Branch Secretary of the All-Singapore Fire Brigade Employees Union and Vice-President of the Naval Base Labour Union, Ahmad was co-opted into the People's Action Party's Central Executive Committee in 1956.

During the 1959 general election, he was re-elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly as a PAP candidate.

When the PAP government formed its first Cabinet that year, Ahmad served as Minister for Health.

Ahmad died on 21 August 1962, at the age of 35, at Singapore General Hospital after a prolonged liver illness while holding the portfolio of Minister for Labour.