National ID chaos still threatens voter registration

Getting a national ID is not for the fainthearted, more so when its demand is high due to the forthcoming 2025 General Elections. The slow process is even frustrating the most patient of people like Elton Malembo.

For close to six months now, Malembo from Kabula, Blantyre, has been waiting in vain for his national identity (ID) card at the National Registration Bureau (NRB) office.

Every time he goes to check if his national ID is out, he is given another day to check and the circus continues.

Malembo, a first-time eligible voter, was excited at the time he was applying for the national ID because he wanted to register to vote.

Section 4 (12) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act states that a person eligible to be registered as a voter in an election needs to have a valid national ID which shall act as proof of eligibility.

Said Malembo: “I am so eager to vote. What I want is my national ID so that I can register.”

Malembo said he fears NRB’s capacity challenges will disenfranchise him; hence, will not be able to vote.

“Maybe, perhaps, using the national ID as a prerequisite to vote was a rushed idea,” he lamented.

Malembo’s plight is, however, not unique as thousands of other first time eligible voters are facing similar challenges in the midst of excitement to take part in the 2025 tripartite polls.

Alfred Maneno from Mzuzu is in a similar predicament, he has been waiting for ages for his ID.

“I really want to vote, but my national ID is taking too long,” he said on Friday.

Maneno, however, hopes that by the time voter registration starts on October 21 2024 up to December 11 2024, his ID will be ready. The fresh voter registration exercise will be held in three phases.

His expectations are also shared by Emmanuel Banda from Mapanga, Blantyre, who on Thursday said he is eager to register and vote for the first time.

Maneno said: “I think the elections next year are crucial for me as a youth to vote for my favourite candidate.”

This will be the first time that the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) will use the national ID as a requirement for eligible voters to register following an amendment of the law.

This has, however, led to several stakeholders, including Malawi Law Society (MLS) and political parties expressing worry over challenges amid fears of voter disenfranchisement mainly due to NRB capacity challenges.

By law, MEC is only mandated to conduct voter registration and NRB is mandated to conduct civil registration. By civil registration, it means NRB is mandated to register births, national IDs and deaths, among others.

With the use of the national ID ahead of the polls next year, it means the two; civil and voter registration have been combined, something political parties and other electoral stakeholders fear will simplify rigging of votes.

On Friday, a former MEC commissioner speaking on condition of anonymity feared that NRB’s capacity challenges would disenfranchise first-time eligible voters.

The former commissioner said despite legislators nodding to an amendment of the law to allow the national ID as key in voter registration, they perhaps could not foresee the present challenges.

“If not handled well, this might even result in a chaotic election. The system would have been best used if the NRB had no challenges and concerns from key stakeholders like the alleged inflating of registrants in some areas,” said the former commissioner.

In August, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) through its secretary general Peter Mukhito wrote NRB requesting for information relating to issuance of national IDs between June 2020 and August 2024, amid allegations of vote rigging by government and further indicated they would drag the issue to court.

Our findings show that many countries in Africa have serious challenges with maintaining their civil registries, as such, most have abandoned combining both voter and civil registry.

Malawi Electoral Support Network national coordinator Andrew Kachaso said a combination of both civil and voter registration has been inefficient. He said much as it simplifies voter registration processes, NRBs capacity challenges raise concerns.

He argued that while the current legal framework is crucial for ensuring uniformity and security in voter registration, its timing might have been premature given NRB’s operational challenges.

Kachaso said: “The idea was well-meaning but the lack of capacity within NRB is causing friction for the election process. Unless NRB resolves its capacity issues, reliable voter data from MEC could be at risk.”

As of yesterday, we were yet to get a comment from MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa if there are any policies and guidelines on handling of the data.

But in a separate interview, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Boniface Chibwana also expressed worry with the challenges, but pointed out that it is incumbent upon NRB to address the numerous challenges.

He argued that the current legal framework is ideal in advancing electoral processes, saying there are no legal frameworks that are good if people do not fully understand. He said there is need to popularise all legal reforms pertaining to the elections.

“We should give the process the benefit of doubt. I do not think that at the moment combining civil and voter registration is rushed for Malawi because the process is the same and the difference is just eligibility bin terms of age,” said Chibwana.

University of Malawi’s Department of Politics and Governance associate professor Boniface Dulani, however, argued in another interview that democracy operates on majoritarian principles, pointing out that circumventing democratic processes is disingenuous.

He argued: “People can raise concerns about NRB’s inefficiencies but the onus is on individuals to go and register. NRB should also strive to have all rightful individuals registered.”

In response to our questionnaire last week, United Nations Development Programme communications associate Steve M’bayeni said they are striving to support the current electoral process with an aim to support all eligible citizens to vote.

But in an interview on Friday, NRB spokesperson Norman Fulatira allayed concerns relating to the civil registration, saying it will not affect voter registration.

He said NRB has significantly improved its capacity by procuring two high performance printers with support from development partners and replaced 20 old printers with new ones from its own budget.

Said Fulatira: “In addition, NRB printed 1.8 million national IDs [one million outside Malawi and 800 000 at its production centre] which are currently under distribution across the country.

“As we speak, printing of an additional 1.5 million national IDs has been completed outside the country and the IDs will be flown in the country and sent for distribution within this month [September].”

He said this gives assurance that every citizen who registered with NRB will have their national ID cards for use inGetting a national ID is not for the fainthearted, more so when its demand is high due to the forthcoming 2025 General Elections. The slow process is even frustrating the most patient of people like Elton Malembo.

For close to six months now, Malembo from Kabula, Blantyre, has been waiting in vain for his national identity (ID) card at the National Registration Bureau (NRB) office.

Every time he goes to check if his national ID is out, he is given another day to check and the circus continues.

Malembo, a first-time eligible voter, was excited at the time he was applying for the national ID because he wanted to register to vote.

Section 4 (12) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act states that a person eligible to be registered as a voter in an election needs to have a valid national ID which shall act as proof of eligibility.

Said Malembo: “I am so eager to vote. What I want is my national ID so that I can register.”

Malembo said he fears NRB’s capacity challenges will disenfranchise him; hence, will not be able to vote.

“Maybe, perhaps, using the national ID as a prerequisite to vote was a rushed idea,” he lamented.

Malembo’s plight is, however, not unique as thousands of other first time eligible voters are facing similar challenges in the midst of excitement to take part in the 2025 tripartite polls.

Alfred Maneno from Mzuzu is in a similar predicament, he has been waiting for ages for his ID.

“I really want to vote, but my national ID is taking too long,” he said on Friday.

Maneno, however, hopes that by the time voter registration starts on October 21 2024 up to December 11 2024, his ID will be ready. The fresh voter registration exercise will be held in three phases.

His expectations are also shared by Emmanuel Banda from Mapanga, Blantyre, who on Thursday said he is eager to register and vote for the first time.

Maneno said: “I think the elections next year are crucial for me as a youth to vote for my favourite candidate.”

This will be the first time that the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) will use the national ID as a requirement for eligible voters to register following an amendment of the law.

This has, however, led to several stakeholders, including Malawi Law Society (MLS) and political parties expressing worry over challenges amid fears of voter disenfranchisement mainly due to NRB capacity challenges.

By law, MEC is only mandated to conduct voter registration and NRB is mandated to conduct civil registration. By civil registration, it means NRB is mandated to register births, national IDs and deaths, among others.

With the use of the national ID ahead of the polls next year, it means the two; civil and voter registration have been combined, something political parties and other electoral stakeholders fear will simplify rigging of votes.

On Friday, a former MEC commissioner speaking on condition of anonymity feared that NRB’s capacity challenges would disenfranchise first-time eligible voters.

The former commissioner said despite legislators nodding to an amendment of the law to allow the national ID as key in voter registration, they perhaps could not foresee the present challenges.

“If not handled well, this might even result in a chaotic election. The system would have been best used if the NRB had no challenges and concerns from key stakeholders like the alleged inflating of registrants in some areas,” said the former commissioner.

In August, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) through its secretary general Peter Mukhito wrote NRB requesting for information relating to issuance of national IDs between June 2020 and August 2024, amid allegations of vote rigging by government and further indicated they would drag the issue to court.

Our findings show that many countries in Africa have serious challenges with maintaining their civil registries, as such, most have abandoned combining both voter and civil registry.

Malawi Electoral Support Network national coordinator Andrew Kachaso said a combination of both civil and voter registration has been inefficient. He said much as it simplifies voter registration processes, NRBs capacity challenges raise concerns.

He argued that while the current legal framework is crucial for ensuring uniformity and security in voter registration, its timing might have been premature given NRB’s operational challenges.

Kachaso said: “The idea was well-meaning but the lack of capacity within NRB is causing friction for the election process. Unless NRB resolves its capacity issues, reliable voter data from MEC could be at risk.”

As of yesterday, we were yet to get a comment from MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa if there are any policies and guidelines on handling of the data.

But in a separate interview, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Boniface Chibwana also expressed worry with the challenges, but pointed out that it is incumbent upon NRB to address the numerous challenges.

He argued that the current legal framework is ideal in advancing electoral processes, saying there are no legal frameworks that are good if people do not fully understand. He said there is need to popularise all legal reforms pertaining to the elections.

“We should give the process the benefit of doubt. I do not think that at the moment combining civil and voter registration is rushed for Malawi because the process is the same and the difference is just eligibility bin terms of age,” said Chibwana.

University of Malawi’s Department of Politics and Governance associate professor Boniface Dulani, however, argued in another interview that democracy operates on majoritarian principles, pointing out that circumventing democratic processes is disingenuous.

He argued: “People can raise concerns about NRB’s inefficiencies but the onus is on individuals to go and register. NRB should also strive to have all rightful individuals registered.”

In response to our questionnaire last week, United Nations Development Programme communications associate Steve M’bayeni said they are striving to support the current electoral process with an aim to support all eligible citizens to vote.

But in an interview on Friday, NRB spokesperson Norman Fulatira allayed concerns relating to the civil registration, saying it will not affect voter registration.

He said NRB has significantly improved its capacity by procuring two high performance printers with support from development partners and replaced 20 old printers with new ones from its own budget.

Said Fulatira: “In addition, NRB printed 1.8 million national IDs [one million outside Malawi and 800 000 at its production centre] which are currently under distribution across the country.

“As we speak, printing of an additional 1.5 million national IDs has been completed outside the country and the IDs will be flown in the country and sent for distribution within this month [September].”

He said this gives assurance that every citizen who registered with NRB will have their national ID cards for use in all other daily transactions, including voter registration. all other daily transactions, including voter registration.