To promote African wear, Uganda is trying to ban the sales of used clothing

Established in 1971, the sprawling Owino market employs some 80,000 people, 70 percent of them women, according to Kampala city authorities. Photo: AFP

For nearly three decades, the chaotic, overcrowded Owino secondhand market in Uganda's capital has been the cornerstone of Hadija Nakimuli's life, helping the widowed shopkeeper build a house and raise 12 children.

But a potential government ban on the sale of used clothing threatens to sever this crucial lifeline for Nakimuli and tens of thousands of vendors like her.