Tag: Malawi

Food Shortages Abate — Except In Zimbabwe

The World Food Program reports that food shortages are coming to an end in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, but such problems continue to worsen in Zimbabwe.

James Morris, head of the World Food Program, told The New York Times,

A serious humanitarian disaster has been averted. Food has been put in place over the last several months in such a way that mass starvation and death has not occurred. We’re seeing significant progress in Malawi and Zambia. We don’t have that same optimism in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, the WFP’s estimate of the numbers of people facing food shortages jumped to 7.2 million in December, up from 6.7 million in August.

Source:

African food shortages ending everywhere except in Zimbabwe. Rachel L. Swarns, The New York Times, January 31, 2003.

They’re Hunting Vampires in Malawi

What do you do if you’re stuck in a Third World country where corrupt officials have left your nation on the verge of famine? Of course, you go hunting for vampires. That’s what’s happened in Malawi where mass hysteria about alleged vampire attacks has led to full-scale vigilantism. The stories range from the typical lone or small group of vampires (who can be identified and beaten by mobs — one man has already been stoned to death) to conspiracy theories about the government and the United Nationals collaborating to kill people and steal their blood. Forget smart mobs, good old fashioned stupid mobs are still the rule in many parts of the world. Source: ‘Vampires’ strike Malawi villages. The BBC, December 23, 2002.

Malawi Not Serious About Stemming Corruption

Malawi is one of a number of African countries facing a food crisis. Like other African nations, Malawi has taken to blaming all of its problem on international actors such as the International Monetary Fund. But its behavior suggests that most, if not all of its problems, are internal.

Malawi, for example, has been promising for months that it is finally prepared to seriously tackle official corruption — corruption that was behind the government’s sale of almost 70,000 metric tons of grain at the same time that the government knew it was likely facing shortages.

So Malawi had appointed former accountant-general Gilton Chiwaula to its Anti-Corruption Bureau. But that just created new problems as Chiwaula began to get a handle on corruption and his investigation began to threaten some high-placed officials.

So in October, Chiwaula was quickly fired on the grounds that the former chairman of the regional Southern African Forum Against Corruption was too incompetent and did not adequately understand Malawi’s anti-corruption laws to carry out his duties. This came the same week that the leader of the main opposition party in Malawi was arrested for defaming the president.

Yeah, that Malawi government is certainly serious about tackling corruption.

Source:

Malawi sacks top corruption fighter. Reuters, October 23, 2002.

The Corruption/Famine Chart

Glenn Reynolds has an observation about Swaziland’s purchase of a $55 million jet . . . at the same time the UN is appealing for foreign aid to prevent famine in Swaziland. Here’s a handy chart of countries in Africa currently experiencing “food insecurity” along with a brief highlight of corruption in each country. For the continent as a whole, estimates of money lost annually to corruption in Africa are typically in excess of US $100 billion.

Country

Corruption

Food Insecurity Problems
Angola US $1 billion in 2001 oil revenues “missing”(FAO appeals for $5.2 million
aid) 		1.4 million people need “urgent assistance” (FAO)
Malawi Corrupt government officials sold 160,000 tons of grain last Fall; $8 million
in European Union aid diverted — EU demanded return of the money in July
2002 (FAO appeals for $1.6 million aid)		 168,000 families at risk (FAO)
Swaziland $2 million aid diverted for down payment on $55 million presidential jet (FAO
appeals for $1.4 million aid)		 21,000 families at risk (FAO)
Zambia Ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency
International; hundreds of millions stolen in the 1990s (FAO appeals for
$2.6 million aid)		 62,000 families at risk (FAO)
Zimbabwe President orders seizure of white-owned farms, causing food crisis; millions $ US aid money missing (FAO appeals for $16 million
aid)		 600,000 families at risk (FAO)

What to Do About Malawi?

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?

Famine in Malawi

The African nation of Malawi is headed toward a famine disaster created almost entirely by corruption and mismanagement at the highest level of its government. Malawi, sadly, presents a paradigmatic case of how governments in the developing world all too frequently condemn their citizens to hunger and starvation.

The government of Malawi had warnings and indications as early as August 2001 that there would be enormous shortages of food. Back then the country of 11 million people knew it was short at least 400,000 tons of maize that it would need to feed everyone.

But due to internal politics and corruption, the government refused to declare any sort of aid emergency. In fact, even though it knew of the shortfall it actually sold part of its maize reserves to Kenya.

With its failure to declare an emergency and with it openly selling food to other countries, international aid agencies did not have much of a chance at convincing potential donor nations to give money and food to feed people in Malawi.

In February 2002, with most of the country on the verge of starvation and hunger deaths increasing, Malawi President Bakili Muluzi finally declared a state of national disaster.

But by then it was too late. Although it needs an estimate $21.6 million to avoid widespread deaths from famine, as of May 2002 it had only managed to raise $5 million. The government had apparently been counting on the International Monetary Fund to release $47 million in aid, but the IMF late last week denied the funds, saying that corruption and mismanagement in Malawi would make any aid at this time pointless.

Unfortunately, it appears that Malawi’s extremely poor men, women and children will likely pay the price for their government’s corruption and mismanagement.

Sources:

Malawi declares famine emergency. Raphael Tenthani, The BBC, February 27, 2002.

Hope fades for Malawi aid. The BBC, May 16, 2002.

Malawi bishops deplore famine chaos. Raphael Tenthani, The BBC, March 31, 2002.

Malawi famine set to continue. Raphael Tenthani, The BBC, May 14, 2002.