Huge turn-up excites NRB staff in Blantyre

The National Registration Bureau (NRB) says it has received a positive turn-up in Blantyre as many people are flocking to registration centres to register for national identity cards.

A supervisor at the registration centre near the Immigration offices in Blantyre, Sonia Mandiwa, said large numbers of people have been flocking to the centre since Monday.

She said in view of this, some are sent back since each officer is expected to register 60 people a day.

Malawi News Agency (Mana) has also established that people are being sent back because their numbers are exceeding the number of forms allocated a day.

In an interview, NRB Blantyre district assistant registrar George Chitsonga said this situation does not mean that NRB is running short of the forms.

He said the officers at centres are told to distribute a number of forms they can manage to attend to.

“There are rumours that some people are selling the forms which means they are not using them for the intended purpose,” said Chitsonga.

However, he assured that NRB will extend the registration to accommodate those who would not have registered.

Chitsonga said they expect to register 800 000 people in Blantyre.

This is the first mass registration of Malawian citizens aged 16 and above to be issued with  national identity cards. n