EAC to act on ‘mivumba’ imports

Aug 13, 2005

THE East African leaders are to take action on used cloth (mivumba) imports as a first step to supporting local textile manufacturers, the trade minister, Daudi Migereko, said this week.

By Paul Busharizi
THE East African leaders are to take action on used cloth (mivumba) imports as a first step to supporting local textile manufacturers, the trade minister, Daudi Migereko, said this week.

“Speaker after speaker who made presentations, raised the issue of second hand clothing,” Migereko said about last week’s meeting of the East African Community Council of Ministers in Arusha, Tanzania.

“The concern is can we support our local manufacturers to come up with clothing that can meet our people's needs,” he said.

Earlier this year all three EAC countries were the target of street protests by second hand cloth dealers who were demonstrating against an increase on taxes on imported second-hand clothes.

“The sectoral committee on finance, trade and investment is meeting with regional textile manufacturers at the end of August.

“We expect a report, whose recommendations will be included in next year’s Budget,” Migereko said.

The minister said Uganda and Tanzania were increasing cotton production “but so far there is no real strategy to exploit this development beyond the export of raw cotton.”
“We will try to phase out importation of used clothing.

“We need to start now as a first step to supporting our local industries,” Migereko said.
Most Ugandans use second-hand clothes because of high cost for new ones.
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