On November 17th, 2010, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo—the Ugandan Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity—issued a directive to Lake Victoria Serena Hotel to desist from hosting the African Women’s Leadership Institute for sex worker rights activists in East Africa stating that hosting the meeting would amount to “promoting and defending a criminal act,” and that the hotel would be considered “an accomplice in an illegality” should the meeting go ahead. On November 18th the hotel responded to the directive by canceling Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA)'s booking and asking the participants to leave their premises.

Akina Mama wa Afrika is a Coalition member, and thus a number of civil society Organisations many of which are members of the Coalition in an act of solidarity have released a press statement protesting this action.