Following the commissioning of the National Identity High-Performance Printer at Capital Hill in Lilongwe, the Ministry of Homeland Security says the National Registration Bureau (NRB), will clear the backlog of all unprinted national Identity cards within the next two months.
The remarks were made by the Minister responsible, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma when he presided over the commissioning of the ID High-Performance Printer which has been planted at NRB offices in Lilongwe.
Zikhale Ng’oma said the coming in of the printer will help in improving service delivery at NRB as it will now be able to meet the growing demands for National ID cards.
While indicating that the printer will reduce the ongoing waiting time and clear the backlog of all unprinted national ID cards, the minister added that the machine will also help to save the taxpayers money as the production cost is expected to reduce.
“The commissioning of this High-Performance National ID Printer is not only a game changer but it will also save the much-needed government resources when it comes to national ID printing,” said Zikhale Ng’oma.
The Minister has then thanked the United States Embassy through the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the support rendered to the Bureau when procuring the highly advanced ID card printer.
In her remarks, Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba, said the new machine will enable NRB to maximize its service delivery by printing not less than 10,000 IDs in a day, compared to 800 cards which the current NRB machine can print in a day.
According to Dr Verita Buie who represented CDC, the U.S. government recognizes the ongoing challenges that NRB is facing, hence their response through procurement of this more advanced and high-output printer.
It has also been revealed that one more High-Performance Printer has been procured and will be in the country very soon.
