DPP sleeping on the job

The adage ‘set a thief to catch a thief’ cannot be truer than the pushing and shoving that is happening now between government and opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over voter registration. It is the reason having been where the Malawi Congress Party is today, and aware elections are rigged not on the voting day but long before that, DPP is not leaving anything to chance.

This is why there is this hullabaloo about what the National Registration Bureau (NRB) can or cannot do, should or should not do. DPP is extremely apprehensive with the requirement that only those with a national identification (ID) will be allowed to register in order to vote in the September 16, 2025 presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections.

The requirement for the national ID as the exclusive proof of eligibility to register as a voter, is derived from Section 4 (12) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act as recently amended. The Act further states that a person who is eligible to be registered as a voter in an election shall, as  proof of eligibility, present in person to a registration officer, proof of his or her national registration issued by the NRB. 

So, most likely with the benefit of hind sight, the opposition is left with no doubt that NRB, as a government entity, is prone to abuse by the Executive to fraudulently register less people in areas deemed to be opposition strongholds.

But beyond the suspicion of fraud to deliberately disenfranchise some voters, there is the question of NRB’s capacity. Does the department have the technical wherewithal and infrastructure to register everybody who will have turned 18 by the voting day?

However, from day one NRB has been assuring the public that it is very capable and will register everyone. According to them proof of that is that already they have registered over 100 percent of the estimated number of people that the National Statistical Office expects to be of voting age by 2September 16, 2024. The entity says it has registered over 12 million people, and counting, surpassing its target of 11.5 million. On its part, the Malawi Electoral Commission has also stuck to its guns that it will not register anyone without a national ID.

Unmoved by NRB’s assurance, the DPP now wants to table a motion in the House that would amend the laws to allow MEC to accept alternative forms of identification for voter registration; rather than solely relying on the National ID.

Now, this is moving in circles, and a total waste of tax-payers’ money. Where was DPP when Parliament was debating and amending the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act early this year? DPP MPs including the current leader of opposition George Chaponda were all right there in the House. Not a single objection did they raise against making the National ID the exclusive proof for eligibility to register as a voter. But they were all sleeping on the job. Or whatever they smoked that put them in a stupor as to not know what law the House was passing. They have only woken up from their slumber now because of the elections next year. They should have made this noise in April when the law was being amended and not now.

Of course, the opposition parties are not alone in objecting to the use of the national ID as the sole proof for identification. The Malawi Law Society (MLS) also raised similar sentiments in a communique on April 15 this year, soon after the law was amended.

According to the group, Section 77 of the Constitution gives all persons a right to vote in any general election, and therefore, any impediment to the actualisation of this right goes against the tenets of liberal democracy. In their thinking use of the national ID as the exclusive proof for registration would disenfranchise some people which would be infringing their constitutional right to vote. 

My pick is: they too were sleeping on the job. The Bill to amend the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act followed all the processes. It didn’t just fall from heaven like a celestial object straight into the House for debate.

MLS has a fiduciary obligation to ensure that laws are made in the interest of Malawians. They should have tweaked it or stopped it before it was tabled in the House. 

My message to both MLS and the DPP is that walking in circles over crucial issues of national importance is retrogressive to the development of this nation. It is a waste of resources. They should be proactive and not reactive to issues.