NRB in death registration exercise through national ID outreach campaign

* The two exercises will be implemented concurrently in a phased approach

* First targeting four districts of Chifipa, Dowa, Balaka and Mulanje from tomorrow, June 19 for 15 days

By Duncan Mlanjira

Effective tomorrow, June 19, the National Registration Bureau (NRB) will roll out a national ID campaign to be implemented concurrently with community death registration exercise across the country.

A statement from NRB Principal Secretary, Mak Sambo says the national ID outreach registration exercise is aimed at offering an opportunity to citizens who have just turned 16 years to register for the first ID card and also to give chance to those that would want to replace theirs.

“On the other hand, the community death registration exercise intends to register all deaths that occurred from 2017 to date,” the statement further said. “The death records which will be captured will be used to flag out or Mark deceased people on the national ID database.”

Sambo further said the two exercises will be implemented concurrently in a phased approach whose first targets four districts of Chifipa, Dowa, Balaka and Mulanje from tomorrow, June 19 for 15 days.

“NRB shall periodically announce the districts of the next phases prior to commencement of registration,” Sambo said. “During the exercise, NRB will place teams of registration officers at selected centres in every ward.

“Citizens who would like to replace their ID cards will be required to pay a fee of K2,500 through NBS Bank agent available at the centre, nearest Banki Pafupi or Mpamba platforms.

“For lost IDs, citizens will also be required on bring a police report as proof of loss,” Sambo said, adding that those registering for the first time — which is free — will be required to provide evidence of citizenship in form of one parent or two community witnesses that have national IDs and any other supporting documentation that serve as proof of citizenship.

He further said to register death, which is also free, they must bring a national ID of the deceased person for adult deaths and for further inquiries the public is encouraged to contact NRB Call Centre on : 0987074074/09877074073/09877074072/09877074071 or email: callcentre@nrb.gov.mw.

During his State of the Nation Address at Parliament in February, President Lazarus Chakwera announced that the NRB is working to remove the restriction of an expiry date on the national IDs, saying

it is aimed at preventing the risk of disenfranchising citizens from enjoying their right to vote.

He said the process was being done in partnership with the Electoral Commission, saying their will also save Government “the billions that would be needed to renew the cards that have already expired over the past two years”.

The national ID is used by Malawians for various puproses such as services for the bank, road traffic, insurance and many others including registering to vote in elections.

However, thousands of IDs expired and people are struggling to get them renewed due to inefficiencies at the NRB and financial reasons since a fee is required in order to renew the ID.

However, following Chakwera’s announcement,  civil rights organisation Centre for Economic Development Initiatives protested the removal of expiry date on the IDs, saying the Malawian card uses state of the art encryption drawn from global standards such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and in line with ICAO — all being smart cards and travel documents that must have an expiry date.