EAC divided on ban on used clothes, shoes as US lobbies exert pressure
Kenyan second-hand clothes traders display their wares in Nairobi. The country is wavering on a ban on imports agreed by the EAC. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
East African Community member states are divided on whether to implement the ban on importation of used clothes and leather products, amid concerns that individual countries’ interests are overriding regional policies.
Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania agreed in 2016 to ban the importation of secondhand clothes and leather products and restrict the use of old vehicles in the region by 2018, in order to boost their industrialisation programmes.
