§ 20. Mr. S. O. Daviesasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why Otema Allimadi, the Permanent Secretary of the 755 Uganda National Congress, was arrested by the Colonial authorities upon his arrival in Uganda from Sudan; and what were the specific charges made against him.
§ Mr. ProfumoMr. Allimadi was arrested on entering Uganda after Customs authorities found prohibited publications in his baggage which he had not declared. He was charged with importing into Uganda certain publications of the International Union of Students.
§ Mr. DaviesIs it not surprising that the hon. Member has not given a list of the prohibited publications which have justified this charge? Is it not true that the prohibited publications amounted to scholarship forms of the International Union of Students and pamphlets dealing with conditions of entry for tuberculosis patients to the Afro-Asian Students' Sanatorium? Are not those the charges which were made, and is that the reason why the hon. Member has concealed them from the House?
§ Mr. ProfumoI do not think I have concealed anything. I have just been rereading the Question and I think that I have answered it very fully. The hon. Member is right that among the papers which were seized were forty-six scholarship application forms for the International Union of Students, which is a Communist Front organisation.