2 - Not Our Business

Summary

Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda and Kenya in the 1980s and 1990s elicited dramatically different responses from those two governments, the response from the private sector in the region was remarkably consistent. In short, there were striking similarities in how the business sector responded – or, for the most part, failed to respond in both East African countries. There were relatively few constructive responders over all. Much of the explanation for this has to do with the nature of these political economies and the firms that predominate: mostly small to medium-sized and many operating in agriculture and the services sub-sectors, areas of the economy in which it may be difficult for business to organize collectively. Finally, a very large number of Kenyans and Ugandans either work fort themselves or are employed in the informal sectors and hence the relationship between labour and big business is very different from what presents in Southern Africa.