Parliament urged to probe NRB’s national ID changes

Parliamentary committee on Defense and security has been urged to probe national registration bureau NRB’s move to change national ID without consultations

In a letter to the committee’s chairperson the Centre for democracy and economic development Initiatives CDEDI says NRB is making drastic changes to the national ID that will result in removal of microchip and expiry date to cut production costs without consulting stakeholders

Executive director of CDEDI Silvestor Namiwa says the development will reduce the document into a useless plastic that will be susceptible to forgery

According to Namiwa the centre investigations have revealed that principal secretary for NRB Mphatso Sambo and UNDP consultant are working on the changes and convinced Malawi Electoral Commission that it was cheap

Namiwa says the secrecy and speed at which the process is being done is raising eyebrows

He adds that Malawians are frustrated with delays of replacing the expired national ID’s

Meanwhile, CDEDI calls upon parliamentary committee on defense and security to summon Sambo and UNDP consultant to explain to Malawians why they decided to bypass the citizens on such issue of national importance

Therefore the centre does not look at the changing of the features on the national ID as priority since the nation is facing serious challenges