MUB wants students to register

Mulanje Vocational Training Centre for the Blind has expressed worry that some of its students will not vote in the May 20 Tripartite Elections because they did not register.

Eighteen students at the school have not registered and the school’s principal, Adam, said the students were in their home districts when the exercise was being conducted.

“But when school opened and students returned [from holiday], Mulanje had already conducted the registration exercise and they were left out,” said Mulaga.

He added that the students had been pressuring him to contact authorities to allow them to register, saying that is their constitutional right.

“We talked to National Initiative for Civic Education [Nice] Trust in Mulanje about the situation we are in. We made it clear that our students want to vote but it was not their making that they did not register and we had hoped that they would register during verification period,” said the principal.

Nice Trust Mulanje district civic education officer, Twambilire Mwabungulu, confirmed that the school lodged a complaint.

“I am aware of that. They are indeed pressing to register and vote, but that exercise can only be done by Malawi Electoral Commission [MEC],” said Mwabungulu.

But MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulira said the students cannot register during verification exercise period.

“The period is only for verification and getting duplicates for those that lost their voter registration cards. Otherwise, there is no time for new registration,” he said.