Chaponda: A politician of sadness and calamities, oh George!
George Chaponda—quite a learned Yale University law product, a diplomat revered for drafting the international refugee law—is in politics a saddest loyalist, a man with a political story defined by nothing but endless shallows, miseries and calamities.
It shouldn’t have been like that for George.
For George, is intelligent. A history degree from India, a law degree from Zambia, a masters and a doctorate in law at one of US Ivy League Yale University—all these to his credit speaks of a towering George who isn’t your average, intellectually.
He has served high, again.
He has been a CEO, at a tender age, of Contract Haulage, a government transport conglomerate in Zambia. He has been a chief Legal Advisor for Meridian International in New York while studying law.
Then he joined UNHCR in 1983. George’s professional romance with UNHCR would last over 20 years and took him to, among others, Somalia, with subsequent posts in Kenya, Thailand, Bangladesh and Tanzania.
With UNHCR, George was phenomenally a man to boot.
He worked extensively to draft legislation that protected the rights of refugees and streamlined the voluntary resettlement of displaced peoples. In 1995, he began to work as head of recruitment for UNHCR in Switzerland, with further work in Poland as a representative for UNHCR in a political capacity.
Such a resume doesn’t, in any way, speak of a mediocre; it’s a loud voice of a giant.
But when he returned to Malawi in 2002, full of knowledge and experience, and the nation over the moon to tap from his international exposure, things, if not devils, conspired wildly against George.
President Bakili Muluzi, in 2002, appointed him chairperson of University Council, the body that governed all public universities then before they got autonomy.
Between 2002 and 2004 when he was there, University of Malawi was a war zone. Violent demonstrations defined the colleges over everything so worse that a life of a student, Fanikiso Phiri, was brutally taken away by the police. George left in 2004, and arguably he left Unima more chaotic than he found it.
He found refuge in politics when in 2004 he won, on UDF ticket, that seat of parliament. George has served in various key cabinet portfolios for years but history hasn’t been kind for him: he is remembered for two pushing two policies—one, foolish; the second, regionalist.
While serving as the Minister of Education, some time around 2007-2008, George led the process of bringing back the quota system, a policy which some sections of the country find discriminatory. He stood for it and the more he did, the more he became the symbol of what is wrong about the administration he was working. He left Ministry of Education divided.
He was later moved to Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in 2011. There In February 2011, George said that a clause in the Local Courts bill making it a misdemeanor to “vitiate the atmosphere” would criminalize flatulence to “promote decency”.
He wasn’t understood until he spoke to me media: “Would you be happy to see people farting anyhow?” The story was quickly picked up by the foreign press chanting George want to criminalize farting. Later, he retracted his remarks, saying he had not read the proposed bill before commenting. He left the Ministry in distress more than he found.
Then came the protracted leadership battle with freshman Kondwani. George was the leader of the House, then dropped—Nankhumwa took over. George was the leader of opposition, then he tripped and Nankhumwa took over.
Last week, he was promised that, finally, he is returning to the mantle of the leader of opposition mantle. He got embarrassed not just being sent off as Nankhumwa returned, hours later powers that appointed him, dumped him and appointed Mary Navicha.
Isn’t this too much for George?
Quite a learned Yale University law product, a diplomat revered for drafting the international refugee law—George is in politics a saddest loyalist, a man with a political story defined by nothing but endless shallows, miseries and calamities.
Time will heal him.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
