Michael Mugwanya hoped his life would change for the better when he decided to go into agriculture. He planted one acre of tomatoes and another of cabbages. He expected to harvest produce worth over sh13m for the season.

But the day he walked to Nakivubo Mews to buy a pesticide to spray his garden was the beginning of the end of his dream. After one week, the healthy garden had dried up, although he was regularly watering it.

He first blamed his gardener for not mixing the pesticide in the right quantities, but after three months, he discovered that he had used a fake pesticide when he overheard another farmer complaining about the same thing.

Mugwanya had invested over sh4m, excluding fuel costs and time wasted on the constant trips to the gardens in Nakaseke district. He is now scared of planting anything because he does not know where to go for genuine pesticides.

Just like Mugwanya, Stella Mukasa has also been a victim of fake products. She recently developed a boil in her armpit after using a fake shaver that left her with an infection.

Consumers cry out:

Fake goods continue to hurt consumers as traders and the Government battle over the pre-inspection law. Consumers say they are ready to pay a higher price if they are assured of better quality product.

Others, such as mechanics, say they continue to lose customers who blame them for the fake spare parts they put in their machinery. "They have killed our market," says the Uganda Technicians boss Andrew Yiga.

"The situation is appalling," adds:

Godfrey Kyalimpa, a computer technician, who escaped being taken to prison after buying a fake TV spare part worth sh450,000. "I bought an LCD screen at sh0.45m and put it in the machine, but it only worked for 10 minutes and the screen blurred. The owner called me a thief.

When I took him to the shop where I bought the spare part, the trader asked me to pay an extra sh400,000 for another screen," says Kyalimpa. "The customer went to the Police who came and arrested me. I told them what had happened and they took the matter to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.

That is when the trader agreed to refund the money." The technicians say they have resorted to getting spare parts from used machines. Joseph Wasswa, a mechanic, says in a country where genuine products are hard to come by, they have to be innovative to keep customers.

"The traders do not allow us to test the spare parts. When we are charging customers, we do not hope to incur double costs, but imagine when the spare part you have bought is not working and you have to buy another one, what do you tell your customer and what does he think of you?" he asks.

John Arinitwe, a generator mechanic, is one of the most affected. Armed with a number of new spare parts that do not work, including tools, Arinitwe says they need an immediate solution.

"We are not speaking about sh100,000. We are making loses on things like regulators that cost sh700,000. When you buy one and it does not work, it means that you have no alternative but to buy another one and the customer will not hear about it," he says.

Consumers turn to second hand goods:

Fake products have scared people fromnew commodities so they now prefer buying second hand products.

"But it is unbelievable that they mix the fake new products in the second hand stock so as to get to the market. I once bought a pair of shoes in Owino Market, which I put on for two days and it got spoilt. When my friend saw it, he asked me why I had bought a 'new' pair of shoes. When I told him it was second hand he laughed at me because he knew the product," said a consumer.

Andrew Kasasa, a technician, says he has come up with an innovation to beat the fake product.

"I have designed more durable amplifiers. Most electronic products on the market are fake. So when people buy them, they bring them to us and we improve them by putting in our amplifiers and capacitors."