September 4, 2023

Second-hand clothing has been banned in Uganda effective last Friday, September 1, to create jobs in the textile industry. This obviously has been met with backlash, as some people there are dependent on selling the exported goods from Western countries. 70% of donated clothes go to Africa, so this is worrying to a lot of people because it's probably cheaper than clothes from their own country. Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni said it "stifles the development of local textile industries and that the clothes belonged to dead Westerners." It's not known how many dead people these used clothes come from though. 

Now, there are people who do make clothes there who aren't able to get as much visibility to possible consumers, which is another reason that promoted this ban. From this, I assume he wants Uganda to be self-sufficient and not lean on other countries. This also apparently will extend to things relating to electricity, as they should be Ugandan-owned and operated.