By Owei Lakemfa
Rwanda is a small landlocked African country with
a 24,670 square kilometer, a population of 11.9
million and a GDP of $8.9 Billion. It is with this
country, the United States, US, the world's largest
economy with a $20.412 Trillion GDP, a 9,147,420
square kilometre and a population of 326,920,253,
has picked a trade war.
Yet, this trade war tiny Rwanda is fighting, is on
behalf of Africa following US' insistence that
Africans must wear clothes already used by
Americans .
The steps that led to the war began in March 2016
when the Heads of State of Uganda, Kenya,
Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan who
constitute the East African Community, EAC,
decided to ban the importation of used clothes by
2019 as part of the EAC Vision 2050. They sought
to grow the manufacturing sector from 8.7 percent
to 25 percent by 2032.
They also agreed to increase import duties on used
clothing to discourage its use and promote local
production. As part of this decision, Uganda for
example increased the environmental levy on used
clothes from 15 percent to 20 percent while
Rwanda increased the import duty on used
American clothes from $0.25 to $2.50 per
kilogramme. Tanzania increased its own tariffs
from 0.2 to 0.4 US dollars per kilogramme.
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The US was livid; how can Africans decide to shun
clothes discarded by Americans? If Africans,
regarded as the poor of the earth would not buy
used American clothes, who will? How will
American second hand clothe traders unionised
under the Secondary Materials and Recycled
Textiles Association, SMART, continue in
business?
In 2017, it sent a warning to the African countries
to either accept the used American clothes, or be
punished. But the African countries refused to be
intimidated. President Kagame in response to the
American threats, said in 2017: "This is the choice
we find that we have to make. As far as I am
concerned, making the choice is simple, we might
suffer consequences.Even when confronted with
difficult choices, there is always a way."
Uganda's Minister for Finance, Planning and
Economic Development, Matia Kasaija declared:
"We are not going to back away from our plans to
ban used clothes in this country because few
business people in the US or Uganda are
interested in the business... Why should our people
continue wearing 'dead people's clothes' when we
grow cotton and have got our own factories? Is it
fair? It is not. We can trade in many other things
but not in used clothes."
Journalist, Isaac Khisa quoted the research by
trade lawyer and policy analyst, Esther Katende-
Magezis which revealed that 'cotton produced in
the EAC is spun and woven in Asia, converted into
apparels and shipped to USA and EU to be worn for
2-3 years and shipped back to Africa, EAC, as used
clothing, to clothe up to 70% of African population.'
When the East African leaders met to review
progress on their development-oriented decision,
the Head of Economic and Regional Affairs at the
Africa Bureau of the US State Department, Harry
Sullivan issued a directive: "The leaders of
Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda are going to meet
on this issue, so I wish I was privy to what they
might decide. They might not have come to
consensus yet, I'm really not sure, but we are
asking those three countries to do two things. One
is to decrease their tariffs to their pre-2016 levels,
and the second thing we're asking is to commit
that aside from health or sanitary reasons, not to
phase out the export of used clothing."
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President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya buckled under,
accepted the dictation of the US. But Rwandan
President Paul Kagame, refused. For this, the US
suspended Rwanda from the African Growth and
Opportunity Act, AGOA, which allows Sub-Saharan
African countries to export to the United States
without facing tariffs.
Rather than be cowed and be apprehensive of
other punitive actions by America, the Rwandese
Government issued a statement saying: "AGOA is
a commendable unilateral gesture to African
countries, including Rwanda, meant to promote
trade and development through exports. The
withdrawal of AGOA benefits is at the discretion of
the United States."
The importation of used clothes, the unrestricted
inflow of cheap clothes and smuggling of textiles
into Africa, has practically killed the textile industry
leading to the loss of millions of jobs. In Nigeria for
instance, the textile sector which was the largest
private sector employer, is virtually dead with over
half a million jobs lost. Yet, it is a country of 180
million people needing clothes with a
corresponding pair of legs that need shoes. The
footwear industry, subjected to similar treatment
like the textile sector, suffered a worse state; it is
dead.
The imposition of used clothes on Africa reminds
me of the British imposition of opium on China in
the 19th Century. The Chinese had rejected trade in
opium, but Britain insisted that under free trade, no
country can stop the importation of any item
including opium. Over this, it invaded China twice,
seized Hong Kong and turned millions of Chinese
into drug addicts.
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Aside issues of trade, dependency and local
manufacturing, used clothes have health hazards
including skin diseases, ringworm and body lice.
As the Ghanaians who refer to the clothes as
Obroni Wawu (Dead white men's clothes) indicate,
such clothes could have been worn by anybody
before being discarded. Used clothes can also be
used for biological warfare. When the White
settlers in America decided to exterminate the
indigenous Indians 500 years ago, they simply
infected blankets with small pox and handed them
over to the Indians. That way, some 90 percent of
the Indians were exterminated.
The issue of dumping second-hand clothes and
used shoes on Africa, is not merely an economic or
trade matter, it is also a socio-political one. The
imposition of used clothing on African countries
especially by America and Europe is a prolongation
of neo-colonial domination, perpetuation of a
programme of dependency and a continuous play
of a racist stereotype that sees Africans as inferior
human beings not fit to wear new clothes like other
people.
This is why a country like America that claims to
be the universal champion of human rights, cannot
accept the right of Africans to wear what they
want, especially new clothes. So when a country
like Rwanda insist on the dignity of its people by
rejecting used clothes, it is regarded as an affront;
an act of insolence, disobedience and revolt, which
must be punished to dissuade other African
countries. This is why Rwanda should not be left
alone like a David confronting the American
Goliath; other African countries need to rally round
and build a united front.
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Nigerians see your life!

America using Africa as a dumping ground even before my forefathers were born.....