The National Registration Bureau (NRB) has distributed over 6 million national identity cards to Malawians who registered under the mass registration exercise last year.
According to NRB Public Relations Officer Norman Fulatira, the distribution of the national identity (IDs) cards for the central and southern regions has taken place and a similar exercise will soon commence in Mzimba in the North.
“Very shortly, distribution will start in Mzimba district because we are waiting for national IDs for Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi and Nkhatabay later this month. This will be the final batch for distribution of cards under the mass registration,” said Fulatira.
He added that the bureau has embarked on a continuous registration exercise where Malawians who are turning 16 years old and those who did not register during the mass registration will register at specific district registration points throughout the country.
“Besides, the bureau will be registering those that stay away from district offices through outreach registration programme which has already started in Thyolo and Blantyre,” he said.
He further highlighted that the programme will continue in all the districts in the country until all Malawians are registered and issued with a national ID.
“In the near future, NRB will open counters in all functional post offices as registration points,” he said.
Mass registration exercise which was done in five phases started on May 24, 2017.
Its aim is to complement government efforts of ensuring that Malawians are obtaining quality social services such as health care, health insurance and vaccinations, among others.
The national IDs are also crucial to citizens’ political and legal rights, such as registering in the voters roll, owning property rights or a
