By Jonah Pankuku:
Former President Joyce Banda has warned that the country risks degenerating into serious electoral mess in next year’s general elections if the prevailing grievances around the ongoing voter registration exercise are not addressed.
Currently, Section 12 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act mandates the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) to use the national ID as the sole identification to register someone to vote.
However, some opposition political parties still doubt the credibility and capacity of the National Registration Bureau (NRB) to register and issue national identity cards for all eligible people to register for the polls.
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Banda, who is also People’s Party leader, said in an exclusive interview with Malawi News that it is incumbent upon all Malawians, including Mec and the government, to ensure that the registration exercise is transparent enough.
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She said stakeholders should leave no stone unturned to ensure that the constitutional right of all eligible Malawians is not trampled upon by systems including a national ID.
“The laws that have mandated Mec to only register those that have got national IDs were made by our own Members of Parliament.
“They were made by us, Malawians, and so it also us Malawians and our MPs from across parties without politicising it with anything to remove or change those laws,” Banda said.
The former president added that some people from the grassroots who have not been well informed might turn up to vote on the polling day and react differently once sent back due to lack of a national ID.
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“It is a recipe for conflict. So, it is incumbent upon all of us to make sure that this registration process is transparent, trusted and everyone is given an opportunity to vote. It is only then that we will have a peaceful election,” Banda.
She then called upon Mec to ensure the registration exercise reaches to more people that are eligible to vote.
Political scientist and Director at the Institute for Policy Research and Social Empowerment, Henry Chingaipe concurred with Banda’s fears and called on the NRB to win the trust of all electoral stakeholders.
Chingaipe suggested that the Bureau should be registering eligible for voters’ right in centres where the voter registration exercise is taking place just as was the case prior to 2019 general elections.
“I wonder why it is so difficult for the NRB to revert to that arrangement to ensure that no eligible voter is left behind.
“As a responsible state agency, NRB must not abuse people’s constitutional right and obligation to vote for political leaders of their choices. If this doesn’t happen, it means that the state is now disfranchising people and I don’t think that is acceptable,” Chingaipe.
Ironically, earlier NRB’s Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo told Times Television’s Hot Current Programme that the bureau would not be registering people in Mec centres, claiming that would be in conflict with the law.
On Thursday evening, some potential voters had a night vigil at Machinga District Council office, demanding to be registered for the national IDs.
They accused the NRB of delaying them through faulty machines.
Machinga East lawmaker, Esther Jolobala, who was among the people, said the issue demanded urgent attention of the authorities to ensure that all eligible voters are registered.
Mec spokesperson, Sangwani Mwafulirwa, confirmed some people have been turned back having arrived in centres for voter registration but without a national ID.
“Without actual statistics, I can confirm that there have been some people that have presented themselves at a voter registration centre and they have always been kindly advised to register at the NRB offices and come for voter registration,” he said.
However, Mwafulirwa expressed satisfaction with how the voter registration exercise is progressing this far; attributing it to the pilot voter registration the Commission conducted.
Malawians are expected to vote on September 16 2025.
