Govt working to rectify registration hitches—Minister

Minister of Civic Education, Culture and Community Development Cecilia Chazama has assured Nkhotakota residents that government is working on problems affecting the national registration programme.

Speaking after visiting some registration centres in Nkhotakota on Wednesday, Chazama assured the people that government will ensure that they get registered without spending hours at the centres.

Nkhotakota boma, one of the registration centres the minister visited, faces challenges, including solar power equipment failure and incompetence of some registration clerks when using the equipment. This has led to the centre registering less people than expected.

“The exercise is going on smoothly, but at a slow pace hence less people are registered,” observed Chazama.

The problem of power has since delayed the exercise in some centres, leaving people to spend hours on the queue.

Maness Shadreck, an elderly woman who waited for several hours to be registered said the process is frustrating.

“If you want to be registered, you have to come as early as 4am because the whole process takes at least 20 minutes per person. By the time your turn comes, you are exhausted,” said Manness Shadreck.

In an interview Nkhotakota district commissioner Felix Mkandawire said apart from the challenges, the turnout is encouraging.

Nkhotakota is has 135 centres. n