Serena cancels Kobusinye’s ‘banned book’ launch
By Timothy Nsubuga
12th Oct 2010
Serena Hotel in Kampala has cancelled the scheduled launch of Dr. Olive Kobusingye’s ‘anti-government’ book.
The Hotel’s management told the book’s author Dr. Kobusingye that they “cannot risk a confrontation with security” and consequently refunded the money she had paid to use the venue. No new date for the launch has been set yet.
Dr. Kobusingye’s book “The Correct Line?” was due to be launched at Serena Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday 13th Oct 2010. The initial consignment of 500 copies was however impounded by Uganda Revenue Authority [URA] officials at Entebbe Airport on “order from above”.
“…we are only acting on instructions from above. We were told that the book is anti-government and we must not release it. If you want more details, speak to the relevant authorities”, a URA official told Uganda Correspondent earlier in the week.
Another URA official has since told the BCC that authorities in Uganda were still carrying out investigations to establish if Dr. Kobusingye’s book could cause “social unrest” in the country before a decision is taken on whether or not to release the impounded consignment.
