Current famine in Northern Kenya is the product weak democracy.

The debilitating diet of hunger and death that is currently famishing a segment of our population has once again showed the value of a free news media in exposing the plight of the forgotten, vulnerable and weak members of our population.

But did it have to take the news media for the Government to act. Didn't the Government foresee the famine?

Hunger and death from hunger is not the natural product of drought or famine. Hunger is not a natural calamity but a social calamity. It is the product of a weak democracy, ineffective food production policies, and momentous policy mistakes related to economic growth, unemployment, gender inequalities and the like. In most cases, hunger is State induced like in Zimbabwe under Mugabe, in China under Mao during the Great Leap Forward or in Cambodia under POL Pot.

Indeed in the horrific history of famines in the world, no substantial famine has ever occurred in any country with a democratic form of Government and a relatively free press determined and dedicated to reporting and informing.

Amartya Sen has said that there has been no substantial famine in any country with periodic and genuine multi party elections, that has vigorous opposition parties to voice criticisms, and that has free media that reports and questions the wisdom of Government policies.

It is not the first time Kenyans are dying of hunger and certainly not the last and that is because our rulers have no political incentives to try hard to stop famine. In a true democracy, elections would be impossible to win on the wake of famine from reckless state action or inaction.

Certainly in western democracies, it would be very hard for a Government to survive protests from the populace, and criticism from media and opposition parties and certainly harder for it to survive elections after widespread hunger and death from hunger.

Kenyans perennially die of famine because the Government can afford to have Kenyans die of hunger and yet itself survive with little challenges to its existence.

Our rulers never have to suffer from famine. In fairness to them, though, they manage to live surprisingly comfortably living in gated neighborhoods with twenty four hour security, attending their children to elite private schools, flying over dilapidated public hospitals on their way to hospitals in London. Instead of financing effective food production techniques, they import and exorbitantly sell imported foods.

That is why our hope lies in the corrective function of democracy for it can make a world of difference. So we must build a vibrant democracy. We must nurture strong opposition parties and forcefully champion freedom of the news media.

A courageous and dedicated opposition can be fruitful in making Government alert to popular concerns. A free news media can bring out facts that embarrass Government thereby prompting it to act. More importantly, these institutions serve to spread the penalty of famine to political leaders.

In China of today, the responsible Government Ministers or officers would almost certainly be hanged for their action, inaction and insensitive and ludicrous remarks. China however, has made great leaps. Between 1958 and 1961, the period of the Great Leap Forward, China had a truly major famine caused entirely by the State and in which some Seventy million people died.

Deprivation of food is a debilitating condition and has may causes. Admittedly, we are not Sweden neither are we China. But we don’t have to be either of them to eradicate hunger from this country.