The National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) has opposed President Yoweri Museveni’s suggestion to stop the importation of second-hand clothes.
Recently at a groundbreaking ceremony of nine factories in Mbale Industrial Park, the president said importation of second-hand clothes stifles the development of local textile industries and that these clothes belonged to dead people.
Like most African countries, Uganda has lived traditionally on imported clothes which are preferred due to their low cost.
While addressing the media at the party’s head offices in Rubaga, NEED’s national treasurer, Charles Basajja, said Uganda is not yet set to supply citizens with brand new clothes at relatively low cost to make them affordable.
He also noted that Uganda needs to first establish enough textile industries and establish adequate cotton farms in the country which will support the local companies to have enough raw materials.
