Contrary to Reuters and BBC reports, farting is still legal in Malawi

Whew, that's a relief!

The international media uproar amazed Chikosa Silungwe, a lawyer with the Malawi Law Commission, the country’s independent law reform organization. “There’s nothing like that happening in Malawi. There’s no farting law being introduced in our Parliament and there has never been a farting law in Malawi,” Silungwe says.

The alleged ‘farting ban’ is in fact a clean air provision, much like you would see anywhere else in the world. The provision against ‘fouling the air’ is nothing new: it has been in place since Malawi adopted a penal code 70 years ago. The provision has never been used to prosecute public farting. Rather, it has been used to prosecute people who have left large amounts of rubbish in public spaces, for example.

More confusing about the media’s recent interest in clean air provision is that it is not even up for debate in Parliament. What is currently being tabled is a bill to re-introduce a localized court system in the country, in which the clean air provision is included only in passing.