People in Malawi want money and food from you and I — in fact they might die if they do not receive it. Unfortunately, whether or not to provide them with those resources is not quite so straightforward.
The famine conditions that Malawi is currently experiencing are no accident. They were largely brought about by a corrupt government with a callous disregard for human life.
Last summer it was obvoius that Malawi’s maize crops were far below what would be required to feed the nation. But for political reasons, the government of Malawi refused to declare a food emergency. In fact, the government claimed, Malawi had plenty of food. Just to prove how much food Malawi had, it sold part of its maize reserves to Kenya.
Now people are dying of hunger in Malawi. The government finally got around to declaring a food emergency in February 2002, by which time it was too late — donor countries had largely allocated money and food elsewhere.
Now in some cities about one person a day is dying of starvation. Without food aid from the developed world, that could turn into tens of thousands of deaths very soon.
Should we give them the aid? Should we be concerned about reports that politicians in Malawi skimmed off some of those maize reserves and held them off the market, waiting for the price to rise significantly?
Great Britain recently announced it would send more aid to the African nation. So far the United States has not made any similar announcement. What are the moral obligations (if any) on this sort of self-inflicted human disaster?