The Uganda National Bureau of Standards-UNBS has backtracked on an earlier statement made on Tuesday ordering the suspension on all imported second-hand garments also known as Mivumba.
According to UNBS the suspension on the importation of second-hand clothes, footwear among others was a precautionary measure to slow the spread of COVID-19.
This angered a large section of the Mivumba dealers that makes a livelihood from selling Mivumba who accused the regulatory body of being insensitive and irrational.
The fuming dealers who feared being rendered jobless claimed that tones of second-hand clothing bales were already in the country pending clearance from the customs.
Now in a statement issued on Wednesday, UNBS has withdrawn its order.
UNBS Executive Director Dr. Ben Manyindo, says the suspension has generated a lot of feedback from social media hence raising anxiety and debate in the public domain.
The biggest chunk of clothes and footwear used in Uganda is secondhand, imported mainly from China, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
