Mess over missing biometric registration kit: NRB awaits report from MEC
National Registration Bureau (NRB) says it has asked the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to give a report on how a biometric registration kit went missing and was found in Mozambique.
NRB spokesperson Norman Fulatira said the biometric registration kit, which the NRB initially used to register people for the national identity cards, was donated to MEC for voter registration exercise.
“We had 2 000 of these kits which we donated to various government departments including ministry of Health and the Malawi Electoral Commission after the ID registration exercise ended,” said Fulatira.
He said MEC replaced the national ID registration software with the vter registration software.
“The kit went missing under the care of the Malawi Electoral Commission, this is why we are interested to know what happened. We are expecting a written report from them,” said Fulatira.
“I can confirm that it is our machine which went missing,” he said.
Fulatira said MEC are “custodians” of every equipment that is being used in the voter registration exercise and that they are thebones handling the logistics.
“MEC can ably explain how this whole thing happened,” he addes.
Fulatira could not give more details on the matter; if it was possible to rig the elections or register people outside the MEC authority, saying details would be known after getting a report on the matter.
The biometric registration kit was discovered in a train in Mozambique, raising suspicion that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might have smuggled it outside the country for purposes of voter rigging, a claim vehemently denied by MEC officials.
i cant download phase 4 and 5 statistics on mec website why?
Do not expect credible election next year. Jane Ansah is busy with Mr. Moffat Banda The official.driver for Mr. BANDA is my friend he is working as a family Driver
MEC’s insistence that the machine that missed wasn’t used for purposes of rigging [it in itself] is giving the impression that MEC was aware and was part of the team that took the machine to Mozambique!! Sincerely if the machine was taken into Mozambique to a destination MEC doesn’t know, then they were supposed to be blank as regards the reasons for the same!! Koma izi zimene MEC ikuchita zomakana kuti cholinga sichinali kubela mavoti zikuonentsa kuti machine wo anapita nawo ndiwo ku Mozambique ko ndipo MEC ikudziwa zimene amapanga ndi machine wo and as such there is no need… Read more »
NRB you donated the kit so no need for you to demand a report from MEC. Mwayamba kusuta kanundu eti. Just wanting to make headlines. NRB is one of the most careless organisations in Malawi. I went to get my ID only to find countless IDs on the floor in Blantyre being given out by a drunkard.