Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has called upon the government to speed up the production, national identity cards (IDs) to help people in rural areas have access to services from financial institutions, among others.
The call comes at a time when he government announced that it has started the pilot phase of national registration which will see 5,000 Malawians registered.
FIU’s Director General, Atuweni Juwayeyi Agbermodji, said most of the people in the villages use letters from chiefs instead of other valid IDs which makes it problematic for them to be assisted since most financial institutions do not accept letters from chiefs for identification.
“The national ID’s will help financial institutions know their customers better. Instead of asking for passports, driving licence or even a letter from the chief, the national ID is one tool that will carter for many services,” said Agbermodji.
Adding on the same, Partner for Deloitte South Africa, Anthony Smith, said bodies like the FIU will have information on their disposal to track down money launderers in the country.
“Having something like a national ID system will help in identification of customers that is in the financial institutions, for instance. You will be able to know who you are dealing with and hence you will be able to put up proper monitoring systems and procedures,” he said.
Second phase of registration exercise starts in September this year where 95,000 Malawians are expected to be registered.
The National Registration Bureau (NRB) was allocated K1.5 billion to carry out the exercise in the 2016/2017 fiscal year.
Malawi government signed a contract with SELP SAS of France as a service provider who will supply equipment for the printing of the national IDs.
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