Mistrust in National Registration Bureau (NRB) worsened yesterday when some opposition legislators stormed the bureau’s warehouse in Lilongwe on suspicion that there was production of national identity (IDs) cards for a purported rigging scheme.
But NRB officials at the scene told the opposition legislators that the warehouse, located at National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) in Kanengo, is used for keeping batches of national IDs pending “sorting” before “dispatch”.
The Nation was unable to independently verify the rigging claims, but established that NRB has been using the warehouse in question since June this year with support from World Food Program (WFP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
During a visit to the scene yesterday, we noticed WFP posters/stickers at this warehouse.
In a telephone interview yesterday NFRA chief executive officer, George Macheka confirmed that WFP and UNDP were their tenants, but said NRB was not party to the tenancy agreement.
His response followed a question on whether NFRA, as property owner, was privy to the business NRB was undertaking in their space.
Said Macheka: “NRB is not our client. The contract is between NFRA and WFP. So, WFP and UNDP, which provides technical support to NRB, provided the space, but we are not party to the contract.”
The furore started with a team of opposition lawmakers led by Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairperson Sameer Suleman who, acting on a tip off, stormed the warehouse claiming they had exposed a rigging plan in which national IDs were secretly being printed.
Both Alliance for Democracy (Aford) president Enoch Chihana and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secretary general Peter Mukhito, a former Inspector General of Police, also rushed to the scene.
NRB officials led by Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo conducted the officials through the process to appreciate why the national IDs are kept at the site and how the ‘sorting’ arrangement works.
While demonstrating the process, NRB head of identity management Mbawaka Mwakhwawa said: “These IDs came from India, but before we dispatch them we have to do the sorting out exercise. Every ID is scanned using the scanners you see here and then the information is captured in the computer.”
During the demonstration, Mwakhwawa and team had to use the actual national IDs from the warehouse and also asked for some from people who had gathered to appreciate how the system works.
Those present appeared convinced as they saw it first hand and somehow the tension was quelled, but not without suspicion.
Said Chihana: “We have seen how it works, but we are not satisfied. We have tasked our IT team to check for more information and submit a report from which we can have an informed opinion on the matter.”
Sambo, who arrived after the members of Parliament had left, looked worried and busy as he was on the phone for long periods.
Nevertheless, he too provided an explanation to leaders of political parties during the demonstration exercise.
Sambo said it was unfortunate that some of the lawmakers are using every means to discredit NRB.
In an interview, Suleman said there is no campaign to discredit NRB, but to ensure that Malawi holds credible elections in 2025.
The IDs in question are 2.7 million that were printed in India and have been arriving at the warehouse batches since June for sorting out before dispatch.
