Dr. George T. Chaponda born (November 1, 1942 in Chonde Village, Mulanje District

Mulanje District

Mulanje is a district in the Southern Region of Malawi. The capital is Mulanje. The district covers an area of 2,056 km.² and has a population of 428,322...

), is a Malawi

Malawi

The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...

an diplomat and politician. He is currently the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

Chaponda studied at the University of Delhi

University of Delhi

The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...

 from 1963 to 1968 where he received degrees in history and political science. He studied law at the University of Zambia

University of Zambia

The University of Zambia is Zambia's largest university, founded in 1966. It has a student population of about 10,000.-Academics:The University of Zambia is divided into the following faculties:*School of Agricultural Sciences *School of Engineering...

 from 1976–79 and at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 from 1980 to 1984. He was admitted to the Bar in 1980.

He held a number of senior positions in Zambia including Chief Executive of a parastal organisation. From 1984 to 2002, he worked mostly as a senior lawyer for the Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...

  in Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. From 2003-2004 he was Chairman of the University Council of the University of Malawi

University of Malawi

The University of Malawi is an educational institution established in 1964 and composed of five constituent colleges located in Zomba, Blantyre, and Lilongwe. Of the five colleges, the largest is Chancellor College in Zomba. The name of the school is abbreviated to UNIMA. It is part of the...

. In 2004 Chaponda entered Malawian politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for the Mulanje South West. In June 2004, he was appointed Foreign Minister

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

 in the cabinet of the newly elected president Bingu wa Mutharika

Bingu wa Mutharika

Bingu wa Mutharika is a Malawi economist who is President of Malawi. He took office on 24 May 2004 after winning a disputed presidential election...

. He served in that position until 2005, when he was appointed Minister of Local Government and Rural Development for Malawi. After the elections in May 2009, he was appointed Minister of Education. In 2010 George Chaponda was appointed Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

In February 2011, Chaponda said that a clause in the Local Courts bill

2011 Malawian Air Fouling Legislation

The 2011 Malawian Air Fouling Legislation is a section of the Local Courts bill submitted to the parliament of Malawi in February 2011 that bans fouling the air. When the Minister of Justice claimed that the bill made farting in public illegal, the story made headlines around the world...

 making it a misdemeanor to "vitiate the atmosphere" would criminalize flatulence to "promote decency".
He told the private Capital Radio

Capital Radio Malawi

Capital Radio Malawi is a radio station in Malawi that was launched on 29 March 1999 by journalist Alaudin Osman.The station broadcasts across all three regions of Malawi, and covers the urban centers of Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe, Mangochi and Mzuzu...

's popular ‘Straight Talk’ programme: "Would you be happy to see people farting anyhow?".
The story was quickly picked up by the foreign press.
The Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga

Anthony Kamanga

Anthony D. Kamanga is a lawyer who has held various senior official positions in Malawi, and as of 2011 was the Solicitor General.-Career:Mamanga earned an LLB in Malawi in 1978, an LLM in Toronto, Canada in 1982 and a Diploma in Legal Drafting in Ottawa, Canada in 1993.He was appointed Senior...

 contradicted him, saying the bill referred only to air pollution.
Later, Chaponda retracted his remarks, saying he had not read the proposed bill before commenting.

Chaponda is a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

, is married and has children.