HOME Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani has clarified that the mobile issuance of national registration cards (NRCs) is not tied to the electoral process.
Mr Mangani said yesterday in a ministerial statement in Parliament that it was wrongly portrayed that the mobile issuance of the NRCs was linked to the registration of voters.
He said despite an NRC being a pre-requisite for one to register as a voter, such a person should have attained the age of 18.
Mr Mangani said although NRCs were primarily for identity, it could also be used to access other services such as banks, hospitals and obtaining driving licenses.
He said the NRC was a security document, which could not be issued without ascertaining that a person qualified and had a birth certificate, a NRC of a parent or guardian or appear on a village register.
Mr Mangani said the mobile NRC issuance was complementing the work by district offices and previously it was done a year before elections but the current exercise was started two years before next year’s elections.
The exercise started with North-Western, Western and Eastern provinces in the first phase followed by Southern, Central and Northern provinces.
He said the third phase was expected to start by April 1 to cover Lusaka, Copperbelt and Luapula provinces to last 90 days.
So far 752,103 people had obtained NRCs out of a target of 635,000.
He said 83,541 people obtained the cards in North-Western province, Western had 81,293, Eastern 155,183, in Southern 95,200 obtained NRC while Central accounted for 133,344 and Northern 176, 542.
The minister said the exercise was successful although it faced some challenges such as poor road network and undue pressure by some politicians who ferried people to obtain the cards.
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