President Lazarus Chakwera says the National Registration Bureau (NRB) is working to remove the restriction of an
expiry date on National ID cards.
Speaking today when he delivered his State of the Nation Address at Parliament in Lilongwe, Chakwera said the removal is aimed at preventing the risk of disenfranchising citizens from enjoying their right to vote.
“The Electoral Commission is working with the National Registration Bureau to remove the restriction of an expiry date on National ID cards, which will also save Government the billions that would be needed to renew the cards that have already expired over the past two years,” said Chakwera.
The national ID is used by Malawians for various puproses, including registering to vote in elections.
However, IDs for thousands of Malawians 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.
Earlier this week, rights grouping Centre for Economic Development Initiatives protested the plans to remove expiry date on the IDs saying the Malawi National ID 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 smart cards and travel documents must have an expiry date.
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