By Civic Education Team
The Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security has asked members of parliament (MPs) in the country to support the National Registration Bureau (NRB) as it implements the national ID outreach registration exercise.
Chairperson for the committee Ralph Joma called on the MPs not to politicize the outreach ID registration exercise which is expected to commence in mid-June 2023.
Joma made the remarks at a consultative meeting held at Blue Waters Hotel in Salima on Thursday, 1st June 2023.
At the meeting, NRB oriented MPs for the committee on plans to register about 2.5 million Malawians aged 16 and above during the exercise.
“I would like to urge members of parliament to fully support this initiative. As members of parliament, let us use our voice to woo people to go and register because your voice commands masses,” said Joma.
Joma also emphasized the need for parliamentarians in the country not to politicize the outreach registration to avoid frustrating such great innovations.
NRB Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo, reiterated the need for members of parliament to support the national ID outreach registration exercise.
“The success of this national ID outreach program depends on the support of this committee and all members of parliament,” said Sambo.
Sambo said if Malawi registers all its citizens, it will enable NRB provide exact figures of the population to any organization in need of the data.
NRB plans to register about 2.5 million unregistered Malawians of 16 years old and above, about 4 million Malawians who want to renew and replace their ID cards due to either loss, damage or expiry of their cards.
The national ID outreach registration exercise will cover all the districts in Malawi in a phased approach and the first phase will cover Chitipa, Dowa, Balaka and Mulanje districts.
Each phase will run for a period of 15 days.