Some political parties, chiefs and citizens have said they are satisfied with the voter registration process so far.
In an interview yesterday afternoon, Malawi Congress Party spokesperson Jessie Kabwila said they were still getting reports but indicated that the general impression was that turnout was good.
She revealed that they received a complaint that in some centres people were being sent back but upon investigations, she said they discovered it was all a false alarm.
School in Machinga yesterday
“We encourage our members to engage MEC when there are issues. We are still mobilising our people to get registered,” she said.
UDF publicity secretary Dyson Jangiya said they were yet to receive detailed reports from their monitors on the ground but indicated that they had not recorded any complaint.
“Our worry is still about people who do not have national IDs because they will be sent back. We are still not happy with the system,” he said.
UTM Party publicity secretary Felix Njawala said they had not yet received a full report by the time we went to press yesterday while Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Shadric Namalomba could not be reached on his phone for comment.
But speaking at Luwinga in the Mzuzu City North Constituency, 38-year-old Lyness Kanjere was all jovial following her registration in spite of a broken national ID.
Senior Chief Ngokwe of Machinga said he was joyful that over 200 people registered in the area, which borders Mozambique, on the opening day.
“I am very happy that my people listened to our calls for them to register. We had rigorous civic education campaigns in the area,” he said.
Meanwhile, Salima district commissioner James Mwenda said he was impressed with the commencement of the exercise.
“The works have commenced well. We cannot do without the few problems that exist. These are manageable,” he said.
Observers, National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust Salima programme officer Queen Mataya was happy with the turnout, attributing it to civic education campaigns they conducted in the district.
“The messages mobilising people to register in the voters roll have worked,” she said. n
—Additional reporting: Joshua Gondwe, Brian Chigumula, Lovemore Khomo, Greenwell Kayuni and Haneeph Maulana, Staff Writers
