National IDs miss delivery target
Distribution of the national identity cards (IDs) to the first set of
Malawians has missed deadline as the consignment is yet to arrive from France where the cards are being printed, authorities have confirmed.
The National Registration Bureau (NRB) said yesterday the consignment which was expected in the country this week, is yet to arrive.
Government began the national ID registration process in May 2017 and promised to issue the cards to the first cohort of citizens 60
days after closing the first phase on July 15.
In an interview, NRB spokesperson Norman Fulatira said they expect to embark on distribution exercise during the first week of October.
He said: “The ID cards for the first phase were already printed we are just waiting for them. We have already oriented the district councils (DCs) where the first phase was carried out.”
Fulatira said due to some factors not everyone who registered during first phase would receive his or her ID card as NRB was only expecting 1.5 million out of the 1.7 million registered Malawians.
He said some people’s cards have not been printed because the bureau was investigating certain individuals after they were registered under duress.
“NRB clerks were registering some people under duress because they presented sceptical information so we have been investigating such people. Some have already been cleared but others are still under probe and once cleared their cards will be printed alongside those of the other phase,” said Fulatira.
However, commenting on the development socio commentator Emily Mkamanga urged government and NRB in particular to jerk its operations to ensure that the exercise does not fall by the wayside.
Meanwhile, some NRB senior officers are already in France overseeing the printing of the ID cards of those who registered during second phase which, according to Fulatira, are expected to be delivered during the first three weeks of October.
The exercise, whose first phase covered Kasungu, Dowa, Mchinji, Nkhotakota, Salima and Ntchisi, is jointly being funded to the tune of K36 billion by Malawi Government and donors including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), European Union (EU) and Irish Aid among others.
