Malawi Urged to Act as Deadly Famine Sinks In

Zenit ^ | 2002-02-18

[nickcarraway]

Date: 2002-02-18

Malawi Urged to Act as Deadly Famine Sinks In

Religious in Lilongwe Issue a Plea

LILONGWE, Malawi, FEB. 18, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Religious of the Lilongwe Diocese say the government should declare the famine in Malawi a national disaster, the Misna agency reported.

"In numerous parishes, the elderly drag themselves with difficulty to the churches where they sit and say they are prepared for death," the religious said in a statement. "In some areas, such as the Dowa district, people eat only leaves and roots."

"In the village of Nauchi, Madisi, a mother and son were killed, poisoned," the statement added. "They were the only ones who still had a bit of food and because of this, were envied by all. In Kabunzi alone, there are at least seven people already dead because of famine, but to estimate how many are dying in the rural areas is, for the time being, impossible."

"In Lilongwe, the number of children who prefer to flee from the villages and live on the streets is increasing daily," the religious explained. "To work in exchange for food is no longer possible."

Given the situation, the religious have appealed to the government of this southern African nation to establish strict price controls. Corn is in short supply, and people spend whole nights in line to buy a few kilos.

"We are doing everything we possibly can to help the needy, with the very few means we have available, but our efforts are not enough to halt the tragedy," the statement by the religious concluded.

[GeronL]

Given the situation, the religious have appealed to the government of this southern African nation to establish strict price controls.

These people have no grasp of economics, do they? It sounds like a supply problem, the article doesn't say people can't afford the food, it says they can't find any.

[GeronL]

Did my assessment sound right?

[marktwain]

All of the famines in Africa over the last couple of decades have political roots. It is almost always some government that won't let food into the area for some reason.

[GeronL]

Africa Watch?

[nopardons]

Nope, just another damned governmental starvation circus. There is some previous info , on this, on the Africa Watch threads. First Malawi, then Zimbabwe, and spreading. Black MARXIST rule is making SubSaharn Africa a paradise... NOT !

[nopardons]

FYI ....More bad news for the Africa Watch bunch.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Black MARXIST rule is making SubSaharn Africa a... killing field because spineless leadership in other countries cower
when these dictators spit out the word racist. Time to stop cowering, Step up and take these monsters out of power.

[nickcarraway]

Economist Lashes Out At Monetary Policy

Daily Times (Blantyre)

February 15, 2002

Mabvuto Banda

AFORD Vice President Du Mhango has described the country's monetary policy as poor and criticised the introduction of the K500 notes saying its inflationary and an indication of a big budget deficit which government wants to finance.

Mhango, an economist and publisher on socio-economic development planning for World Bank in South Africa , said sound economics demands that the printing of a currency should not exceeds 2 percent of the GDP as it leads to high inflation.

"If the total cost of printing notes exceeds the seigniora ( a share of the GDP) by 2 percent it triggers high inflation which will put micro-economics in an equilibruim and that is risky to a consuming nation like Malawi," Mhango said.

He said financing of the budget defict is a clear result of the negative effects of hosting the Sadc summit last year and this year.

Mhango's observation comes hot on the heel of other money market experts who this week also cautioned the government on the K500 note introduction.

'The Reserve Bank of Malawi must be aware that introducing a huge denomination of a currency is inflationary and they must set proper measures to counteract its negative effects," said Joseph Mwanamvekha,Continental Discount House (operations) manager.

Commercial Bank of Malawi officials said while the new note will be easy to handle by the public and the banks, most traders will peg their prices towards the large denomination as was the case when the K200 note was first introduced.

Last year government hosted a Sadc summit in August and in two months it spent K5 billion more than its revenues creating a deficit of K1.3 billion.

The Aford Veep joined other economic commentators calling on government to lobby the European Union, the British and the US who are witholding funds the Danish who have cut aid.

"The government is the main culprit but the ball is in our court to clearn up our act before we lobby because there is no sane donor who can give money where responsibility is lacking," Mhago said.

The EU and the UK are witholdig their aid to Malawi following serious accusations of high level graft, governance issues and overexpenditure.

This has resulted into the import cover to drop from 4.5 months to 3.7 last months.

With inflation and interest rates still hovering at around 22 and 46 percent, business commentators say the rates are poised to skyrocket further defeating 2000/2001 budget predictions of bringing inflation to two digits by December.

[nopardons]

Absolutely ! But, you know that that won't happen.

Our news media has ignored it all . If and when it ever gets any coverage, it will again be a " blame whitey , and oh, by the way, you better send food and money " thingy.

Malthus was right , and we should just allow his theory to run its course !

[Vigilanteman]

Malawi used to be one of the relative success stories of Africa. They were the major conduit to circumvent the South African embargo, doing minor value added work to "Made in South Africa" products so it could be relabeled to "Made in Malawi."

The company I used to work for could get around the UN embargo quite nicely with their Malawi connections. I've lost track of them since.

I wonder if the UN imposed a Marxist government on them as punishment for their insubordination. Wouldn't surprise me. What little direct dealings I had with the people (mostly phone & correspondence) was positive.

[nopardons]

Well, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa now have black MARXIST leaders / governments and are crumbling . The UN and the Liberal WEST have more than a little responsibilty and grasping cupidity in this . Previous to their blind interfierence, all three countries were stable, feeding themselves, vibrant , safe, and productive . Now, they are NONE of these things.

Thanks for your personal input. That's what makes the AFRICA WATCH threads so valuable ; the people who REALLY know what they are talking about.

[VMI70]

For info about Malawi go here

[Carry_Okie]

Previous to their (the UN -CO) blind interfierence, all three countries were stable, feeding themselves, vibrant , safe, and productive . Now, they are NONE of these things.

So what does this have to do with Malthus being right?

[nopardons]

Didn't you ever learn about Malthus and his theories on population ? When there are too many people, war, famine, disease , and I forget the fourth one ( hey, it's late ! ) will take care of the problem. These people can't function, there is no possible way , all things being equal, that anything done FOR them ( sending in food, etc. ) will cure the problems ... so , Malthus' theory should be allowed to run its course. The more help they get, the worse these countries will become.

Now do you " get it " ?

[Carry_Okie]

There you go again, genius. You contradicted yourself:

Previous to their (the UN -CO) blind interfierence, all three countries were stable, feeding themselves, vibrant , safe, and productive . Now, they are NONE of these things.

This is your statement. Recognize it? OK. It is correct; the three countries were doing just fine. Then they went Marxist. The cause of their starvation is Marxism, not overpopulation.

So I said:

So what does this have to do with Malthus being right?

Because their problem is Marxism, not overpopulation. I know full well what Malthus was about. He was wrong, both in terms of the dates of his predictions and the number of people the planet could support.

Then you said:

Didn't you ever learn about Malthus and his theories on population ? When there are too many people, war, famine, disease , and I forget the fourth one ( hey, it's late ! ) will take care of the problem. These people can't function, there is no possible way , all things being equal, that anything done FOR them ( sending in food, etc. ) will cure the problems ... so , Malthus' theory should be allowed to run its course. The more help they get, the worse these countries will become.

War, famine, disease, and pestilence. Characteristically proving once again, that fancy private boarding schools didn't give you a lick of sense.

Now do you "get it"?

[tomakaze]

RE:So what does this have to do with Malthus being right?

Malthus would have fit right in at harvard (or CBS or any other bastion of leftist cultists)
The premise is that population grows at a geometric rate, while resources grow at an arithmetic rate.
Which is fine when you're talking about animals.
What Malthus (and modern day leftists) can't and wont acknowledge is that every hungry mouth that comes into the world comes equipped with hands and a brain*, which sort of screws up (in their eyes) the whole thing, as thinking people with brains tend to do things like discover new resources or invent new ways to exploit existing resources.
In short Malthus was wrong, where we (humans) are concerned.
The guy who posted (at the top somewhere) that this is just another example of a long african tradition of political starvation by marxists (and endorsed by western disciples of Cecil Rhodes), is right.
How many months ago was Mugabe sending his thugs out to torch the only productive farms (I know - maybe not the same are, but it is related.)




*nitpickers may whine about how I'm leaving out cripples and the feebleminded, but in civilized human cultures, families general take care of them. These nitpickers are of the same stripe as those people who whine about how the term "Mankind" leaves out women, which is patently ridiculous.

[arthurus]

Mr. Malths did not understand economics any better than do the Marxists.

[Travis McGee]

Africa reverting to normal, that's all.

[nopardons]

Oh do try to keep up, and do read the full thread. I was talking about an alternative solution to our being blackmailed into sending aid ;not economics.

[nopardons]

My education, and abilt to reason , are not in question; though your's certainly are, dear. And yes, a Malthusian solution is preferrable to the USA pouring money down a sinkhole of corruption . You know ( or should ) that sending aid to coutries, such as these, winds up lining the pockets of tyrants / never reaching those in want. It isn't up to us, to tell a sovereign nation what to do, and we aren't at war with any of them. Ergo, let them fulfill this course, to the eventual end .... a la Malthus.

Carrying forward, your animosity , towards me, from other threads, is against the rules. But you do know that; dont you ? Do try, IF you are at all able, to stay on a thread's topic . Your proclivity towards baiting, personal insults, trying to start a flame war, and dragging things from other threads, have NO place on serious threads, such as this one . You've just made a fool of yourself; congratulations.

[nopardons]

No, that leaves YOU in the midst of oblivion. : -)