Demand for NRB to improve services grows
A human rights pressure group Malawi First has demanded the National Registration Bureau (NRB) to resolve challenges in national registration.
The group also said it is concerned with political arrests and contested the Malawi Electoral Commission’s (MEC) stringent voter identification requirement for the upcoming 2025 elections.
Malawi First representative Bon Kalindo, who led a street march in Blantyre yesterday to deliver a petition to Blantyre, district commissioner Alex Mdooko, said they expected NRB to resolve the cited challenges within 20 days.
He said: “NRB should make efforts to register people in the Southern and Northern regions so that people eligible to vote should have identity (ID) cards ahead of voter registration.”
Council offices
Reading the petition yesterday, Kalindo said they want MEC to allow people to register for the 2025 General Elections using other forms of identification as well.
NRB Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo was not available for comment yesterday but in a previous response, he said the bureau will ensure that all registered citizens receive IDs by the end of August this year.
During voter registration for the 2025 General Elections, every person registering will be required to present a national ID as proof of eligibility.
During the march, more than 100 police officers, many in uniform, were deployed.
There were also police officers stationed in strategic points along the route which the grouping used.
