Transformative milestone. Fulfilled promise. Landmark development. A guarantor of our citizenship. This is how various stakeholders have described the just-ended mass registration exercise and the issuance of biometric national identity cards (IDs).
\nAfter a long wait for over 50 years without having legal documents identifying us as bona fide Malawians, everyone is excited about the introduction of national IDs. Even President Peter Mutharika who during his tenure as Justice minister in 2009 initiated the legislation of the enabling Act is upbeat about the achievement.
\n\u201cWhen I initiated legislation of the Act in 2009 in my capacity as minister of Justice, everyone said this is not possible. But we have done it. Today, our promise is reality. Our dream is happening,\u201d said Mutharika during the closure of the mass registration campaign in Lilongwe recently.
\nHe added: \u201cToday, we are here to make history. For the first time ever, Malawi has a legal identification system. Every Malawian now has a national identity card. This is transformation! The National Identity Card was my promise to the people of Malawi. I have always said \u2013 I promise what I do; and I do what I promise.\u201d
\nThe initiative targeted to register nine million Malawians but has so far beaten the target, courtesy of the desire of every eligible citizen to have a national ID.
\n\u201cThe National Registration and Identification System has an overall total of 9,168,689 Malawians. All these will receive their national identity cards. This constitutes a 100 percent national coverage against our initial target population,\u201d explained Mutharika.
\nWhile mass registration is closed, there will be continuous registration at all times as those graduating into the eligibility criteria can register and obtain a legal identity at district commissioners\u2019 offices.
\nGame changer
\nThe benefits of the identity card are numerous. For Eletoni Fundi from Ndanga Village in Mulanje, once he receives the national ID, his first action will be to use it to open a bank account.
\nDescribing the development as a wonderful solution, he revealed that in the past three years, he attempted to open a bank account but financial institutions turned him away due to lack of a genuine ID.
\n\u201cAs a carpenter, I get some substantial money from my business. It has been my longtime dream to save some of my earnings, but lack of an identity card was the stumbling block,\u201d he explained: \u201cWith the national ID, the impossibility is now a possibility.\u201d
\nHis sentiments echo what Mutharika said during the closure of the mass registration initiative.
\n\u201cWith a national ID, every citizen can now access banking services because banks feel secure to deal with legally identifiable citizens. With the national ID, banks no longer have reason to deny services to our farmers, mothers and sisters living in rural areas,\u201d Mutharika explained.
\nHe added: \u201cThe cational ID card is a game changer. With a legal identity of every citizen, we will now flash out ghost workers from the public service. We will save more money for public services.\u201d
\nThat is not all. There is also an expectation among many stakeholders of an increase in e-commerce and online transactions because the national identity system steps up electronic security.
\n\u201cNot long from now, we will now buying and selling our goods online more than ever. This is transformation,\u201d the President explained.
\nWith every Malawian owning a national ID, even the Immigration and Citizenship Services Department shall have no excuse for processing and issuing passports to crooked foreigners who parachute into the country only to get the much-needed document fraudulently for sinister motives.
\nOther benefits
\nThe just-ended Mass Registration assignment, according to European Union Ambassador to Malawi Marchel Germann, is a significant achievement that has put Malawi on track to achieve one of the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals on legal identity for all and birth registration by 2030.
\n\u201cThe digital dividend of this project offers a unique opportunity for Malawi to position itself as a modern State on the African map. Technology can be a tool to establish transparent systems and hence underpin reforms. What we are witnessing today is a milestone for Malawi since it holds transformative promise for the country.\u201d
\nGermann pointed out that a new chapter has begun as Malawians will enjoy the tangible benefits that ID cards bring.
\n\u201cDevelopment Partners would like to encourage your government to ensure that the NRIS, coupled with the ID cards, will translate into improved service delivery and strengthened democracy.
\n\u201cWe invested in this project to see improved governance and an increased tax base by efficiently utilising this system; to see e-health passports, giving instant access to patients\u2019 medical histories, saving time and lives; and to see improved access to justice and social protection becoming realistic goals to aspire to. The ID cards are also expected to usher new opportunities to roll out targeted financial inclusion programmes,\u201d he said.
\nFor many citizens to benefit from the card, establishment of linkages between the National Registration and Identification System and government ministries, departments and agencies is of paramount importance. One crucial linkage already in place is that of between the identification system and the Malawi Electoral Commission.
\n\u201cWe are expecting that this will improve the integrity of the voters\u2019 register and, more importantly, reduce the total cost of the elections. The introduction of ID cards should translate into significant cost-savings on the voter registration process and the overall election budget,\u201d said Germann.
\nOther linkages can be made with the Ministry of Health and the Immigration Department and the banking sector. Through such links, an ecosystem providing improved services for the bearers of the national ID will be created easily.
\nTransformative milestone
\nThe fruition of the initiative is a result of the strategic coalition of engagement and commitment between the Government of Malawi, and Development Partners \u2013 the UNDP, the European Union, UK, Ireland, Norway and the US \u2013 which together funded the project.
\nUNDP Chief Technical Adviser on NRIS-project Tariq Malik summed the valuable collaboration very well: \u201cA project of this size and complexity is never the work of one individual. There are many here today who gave their time, commitment and their energy so this vision could be realised. The number of people registered in the mass registration campaign speaks to their success.\u201d
\nBut when all was said and done, Malik made a capstone observation: \u201cThis was truly a project by Malawians, for Malawians\u2026.. Today, however, is a moment to pause, to take a breath and to celebrate. We have achieved a milestone, a milestone with transformative promise.\u201d
\nIndeed, registering over nine million Malawians; and issuing them with biometric national IDs within a short period of time is a milestone with transformative promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Transformative milestone. Fulfilled promise. Landmark development. A guarantor of our citizenship. This is how various stakeholders have described the just-ended mass registration exercise and the issuance of biometric national identity cards (IDs). After a long wait for over 50 years without having legal documents identifying us as bona fide Malawians, everyone is excited about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57353,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57347\/revisions\/57353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}