Digital transformation key to growth—NRB
National Registration Bureau (NRB) Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo has said inclusive digital transformation (IDT) has the potential to stimulate the country’s development as an enabler of Malawi 2063.
Speaking in Lilongwe yesterday during a validation workshop for IDT for Malawi (IDT4M), he observed that the initiative is important as the country is moving towards a digital economy where Malawians need identity documents for identification and to transact as well as conduct businesses in the digital world economy securely.
Said Sambo: “NRB is at the centre of digitalisation, which is the enabler of economic development of the country that will allow people to make registrations online using smartphones and even make payments in this digitised world that will help to reduce time in printing IDs, reduce queues in banks and help to increase accuracy by preventing identity theft in financial transactions through the digital biometric verification initiative.”
In his address, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority director general Daud Suleman described NRB as the source of identity truth to all service providers in performing digital transactions, adding the bureau is crucial to developing the country’s digital economy.
“It’s important to put NRB at the centre of IDT since all the digital identities will be drawn from NRB that creates a consistent perspective of peoples identity in digital transformation,” he said.
United Nations Development Programme resident representative Challah Getachew said the UN was satisfied with the support it provided in the introduction of national identity cards, digital biometric verification and the implementation of birth registration cards in partnership with Unicef in the 2016/17 financial year.
IDT4M is an initiative whose goal is to ensure that all individuals and communities in Malawi, including the most disadvantaged in rural and remote areas, have access to and use of information and communications technology in accessing public services with the aim of creating a conducive environment for everyone in the digital economy.
