By Sarah Munthali
Mchinji, May 18, Mana: National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) has intensified voter education campaign for Mchinji residents amid reports that many people are not aware of the voters’ verification exercise taking place in the district.
Reports have been rife in the district that many people are unaware of the exercise.
Eligible voters who lost their certificates are supposed to go to centres where they registered to get duplicate voters certificates if they lost the previous ones and process transfers, in case of relocation to new areas.
However, in an interview conducted on the sidelines of the mobile sensitisation meetings NICE is conducting in Mchinji district, NICE District Civic education Officer for Mchinji Paul Kanyenda said most people were confused after the Supreme Court ruled against new voter registration.
“Many people thought there won’t be need for them to go to registration centres because Malawi Electoral Commission changed the voter registration calender in phase three and four.
But we have intensified dissemination of messages that people who lost their voter certificates should still go to the centres and get a replacement and those who moved from one area to another can go and get their voter certificates from centres close to where they live,” he said.
Kanyenda said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NICE has intensified dissemination of messages through mobile public address system, Mudziwathu community radio, whatsapp, churches, and mosques and through traditional leaders.
He said so far, they have disseminated messages to all traditional authorities in the district.
According to Mchinji District Commissioner (DC) Bester Mandere, many people have turned up in all the 150 centres to get new registration certificates or transfers.
“On the first day on Friday, 15th May, many were not aware but reports from the district elections supervisory team (DEST) shows that voters are now turning up at registration centres,” he said.
About 243,070 people registered in Mchinji during the 2019 general elections.
