A ban on used clothing imports isn't the answer – Uganda must find homegrown solutions

"Stop buying secondhand clothes, these clothes are for dead people." At the opening ceremony of the Sino-Uganda Mbale industrial park in late August, our president announced an unexpected ban on imported secondhand clothes. The audience responded to Yoweri Museveni's rhetoric with laughter. A dead white person's clothes being packed and shipped to Uganda is a compelling image with which to galvanise the masses. But secondhand clothes don't come from the dead. That's not how fast-fashion systems work. People don't die quickly enough for fast fashion, only trends do. The announcement is a harsh slap in the face for the communities…