By Temwa Mhone – MEC Stringer
National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust says it will leave no stone unturned to ensure the fresh presidential elections slated for July 2, 2020 are credible.
NICE district civic education officer for Thyolo Moses Kaunda said this last week during an awareness campaign on voter registration at Bvumbwe Trading Centre.
Thyolo is one of the districts in the second phase of voter registration exercise which started on April 27 and will end on May 10.
Kaunda said they have intensified sensitisation campaigns to lure more people exercise their right to vote.
“One of the determining factors to consider for credibility of any election is the number of people who participated. The more the people are, the high the credible the election is. We have embraced a number of activities to mobilise all eligible voters in the district to go and register. It is their birthright to elect a leader,” said Kaunda.
He, however, lamented of long distance to centres with National Registration Bureau (NRB) staff as a barrier to new voters without national identity (ID) cards.
The ID is a requirement for one to be registered as a voter with Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC). During this period, MEC in partnership with NRB has placed a team per ward to conduct national registration exercise.
“A lot of new voters cannot endure long distances just to get the proof of NRB registration to register with MEC. The concerned institutions must consider to have more centres with NRB staff for awareness campaigns to be fruitful,” said Kaunda.
Chiefs in Traditional Authority (T/A) Changata raised the same challenge of long distance during a meeting with MEC’s commissioner Ambassador Yahaya Mmadi who assured to look into the matter with urgency.
Reacting to NICE Trust’s effort, one of the people at the trading centre Lucy Makwiti commended the organisation for reminding them of their responsibility to participate in public life.
