No underage Issued ID—NRB

Faced with accusations of registering minors for national identity (ID) cards purportedly to influence next year’s general election, the National Registration Bureau (NRB) says no underage person has been issued an ID.

NRB Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo told journalists in Lilongwe yesterday that the allegations were unfounded because the bureau only registers for national IDs people who attained the age of 16 and above as mandated by the law.

“It is important to note that records of individuals registered that time were flagged and NRB is currently diligently reviewing and removing these flagged records on a case-by-case basis, subjecting supposed minors to additional interviews and vetting,” he said.

His explanation followed claims by Concerned Citizens who earlier told the media that during Phase Seven of the national ID registration exercise launched last month some underage persons were registered to allegedly influence the September 16, 2025 General Elections.

During their press briefing, the Concerned Citizens paraded the purported minors who were reportedly issued with national IDs.

Section 4 (12) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act prescribes the national ID as the sole proof for one to be captured in the voters’ roll.

The Concerned Citizens also played a video allegedly showing underage registrants, but NRB has described it as one presented during the court-sanctioned  fresh presidential election in 2020.

Sambo also announced the bureau’s plans to roll out a nationwide ‘mop up’ registration campaign to register all people who were left out during the previous registration exercises.

“The exercise will run from June 10 to the end of August, and will target registering all resident foreigners with valid documents from the Department of Immigration,” he said.

NRB is expected to implement the registration exercise simultaneously in all the districts across the country through 5 002 centres previously used during the 2017 National Mass Registration Campaign.

Sambo has expressed optimism that the bureau will print and distribute the cards of those registered on time using a high-performance printer donated by the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

In an earlier interview, Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma hailed NRB’s efforts and said the commissioning of the printer is not only a game-changer, but will also save government resources.

“Malawi is grateful to the US Embassy, who, through the CDC, rendered this support to NRB,” he said.

With elections set for next year and the revised electoral laws mandating the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to only register those with national IDs, there have been concerns from stakeholders that some voters could be disenfranchised by the requirement amid NRB’s capacity challenges.

MEC projects that the country will have 10 957 490 eligible voters. The projected figures show that the Central Region will have the highest number of eligible voters at 4 827 703 followed by the Southern Region with 4 706 285 and the Northern Region with 1 423 502.

Despite the challenges, NRB last week said it had registered all eligible people, including the 2.2 million that will be 18 years by voting day, to cast ballots in next year’s General Elections.

In the 2019 Tripartite Elections, there were 8.7 million eligible voters, according to the 2018 Population and Housing Census.