By George Mponda

Karonga, August 20, Mana: The National Registration Bureau (NRB) in Karonga has extended its distribution of National Identity (ID) cards and registration of eligible citizens who did not participate during the concluded National ID outreach registration exercise to Karonga prison.

Principal Registration Officer for NRB in Karonga, Chikondi Mtunga said in an interview on Monday that the mop-up registration exercise aims to capture all eligible candidates in all corners of Karonga district.

Mtunga said, "We have been conducting this exercise in various centres which are also Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) registration centres and Karonga prison is one of them. Inmates also have rights to acquire National IDs which is why today we are here inorder to give a chance to those who are eligible to register."

"We are replacing lost IDs and registering all eligible citizens who did not participate during the just concluded National ID Outreach Registration exercise," he added.

He further informed the general public that registration of citizens is a continuous process at NRB District Registration Offices or in some post offices in all districts in the country.

On his part, Gerald Namwiyo an inmate at Karonga prison, hailed NRB for bringing the registration exercise close to them.

"A National ID is very essential for one to access various services and for some of us we even had concerns that we might not vote in next year’s general election but now that we have registered, we will exercise our right to vote,” said Namwiyo.