Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has banned the importation of second-hand clothes and electricity meters and cables.

The directive is aimed at creating jobs and developing Uganda’s manufacturing sector, including the textile industry.

 He said:

“Stop buying second-hand clothes, these clothes are for dead people. When (whites) they die, they organise the clothes and bring them to Africa,”

President Museveni issued the directive while launching 10 factories that will manufacture electricity meters and cables in the eastern Uganda town of Mbale.

The factories, run by Chinese investors, are part of the Sino-Uganda Industrial Park, a project between the Ugandan government and Chinese investors.

Uganda’s neighbour Rwanda successfully banned the importation of second-hand clothes in 2018.

Other East African countries have also attempted to phase out second-hand clothing imports in the past.