Malawi considers public farting ban

Malawi’s parliament is to consider banning breaking wind in public, according to Justice Minister George Chaponda. The move would not be a new initiative – it would revive a law passed in 1929 when the country was a British colony.

AFP/Cris Bouroncle

“The government has the right to maintain public decency,” Chaponda told local independent station Capital Radio. "Would you be happy to see people farting anyhow?"

Chaponda says that standards have slipped with the increase in democratic rights which followed the authoritarian rule of Hastings Kamuzu Banda from 1964-1994.

With a multiparty system and freedom, he told the radio interviewer, people think they have the right to break wind anywhere they want.

Malawi’s parliament will discuss reviving the law next week, the minister said, adding that, if they do legislate, it would become a minor crime punishable by a fine.

Malawi has a number of conservative laws on its statute book. For some time men with long hair and women wearing trousers could be punished with prison sentences.

Last year a gay couple were sentenced to 14 years’ hard labour for staging a symbolic marriage in public, although President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned them following an international outcry.