National Registration Bureau (NRB) has asked Malawi Police Service to start issuing police reports for free to people who lost their national identity cards and are looking to replace the IDs.
Principal Secretary for NRB in the Ministry of Homeland Security Mphatso Sambo said this in Dowa yesterday when the NRB and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) had an interface with the media.
Under new electoral laws, anyone who wants to register as a voter will be required to present a national ID card.
However, there are concerns that millions of people who will be eligible to vote in the 2025 general elections do not have national IDs.
For people whose IDs were lost and they need replacements, the process involves paying K5000 for a police report and K2500 replacement fees at NRB.
Sambo said the police report fees is one of the factors hindering Malawians from replacing their IDs.
“We want many Malawians to register and the charge attached to the police poses a challenge so we are asking the police to start issuing the reports for free,” said Sambo, adding that they hope to get a positive response because Malawi Police and NRB are under the same ministry.
Meanwhile, NRB has embarked on outreach registration targeting 2.4 million new registrations and 4 million replacements.
The exercise which started in June and is expected to end in December this year is being conducted in seven phases with each phase covering four districts across the country.
Sambo said through the exercise, NRB is setting up centres in rural areas so that Malawians should not walk long distances to access NRB services.
“We are registering those who have turned 16 as well as other people who have never registered for IDs. We are also replacing damaged or lost IDs and we are also registering deaths,” said Sambo.
