About George Chaponda

George Chaponda is a principled person who has spent his life working hard to create better conditions for people everywhere. As a young man he demonstrated great potential in academics, earning a scholarship at the University of Delhi with outstanding marks from secondary school. He went on to earn degrees at the University of Zambia and Yale. After a brief time working for a private company while at Yale, Mr. Chaponda dedicated himself to public service.

In 1983 he began working for UNHCR, taking on a position at their mission in Somalia. He used his legal education to draft legislation that attempted to help refugees by insuring their humane treatment. George Chaponda would spend nearly 20 years working for UNHCR and his career took him to Kenya, Thailand, Europe and Ethiopia. In 1989, he facilitated the voluntary repatriation of Namibians who had been living in exile in Zambia. While working for UNHCR he demonstrated a commitment to protecting the rights of people who were in awful circumstances, and learned to be a skilled negotiator.

His last post at UNHCR was in Ethiopia, where he worked as the Deputy Regional Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region. Upon leaving this position in 2002, he returned to his native Malawi and was appointed Chairman of the University Council in 2003. In 2004 he was elected to the Parliament there, where he would enjoy a number of high level appointments. His negotiation and diplomatic skills were very useful for him in Malawi and he worked to help his nation to develop responsibly.

He was first appointed to be Minister of Foreign Affairs, before being appointed as Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and later Minister of Education, Science and Technology. While serving as Minister of Education, he promoted a programme to standardise private education facilities and develop school curriculum, improving both the quality of infrastructure in these schools as well as the quality of teaching.

In 2010 he was made Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs before returning to work in a more diplomatic role as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It was in this role that he worked on the reduction of non-viable embassies abroad and initiated external audit of finances in foreign embassies to expose fraudulent activities.

In May of 2016 he had the honour of serving as Leader of the House of Assembly and used his skills to benefit Malawi by creating lasting bonds with many different countries.

He currently serves as a Church elder and has significant commercial interests in the real estate and transport sections in Malawi. Having realised great financial success through these investments, he set up a family trust to help the needy, supporting orphans and other community services in his rural constituency.