Malawi: National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust has started a series of roadshows in Machinga. The aim of the roadshow is to encourage voters to verify their details in registration centers as the exercise progresses in the district.
The officials have shared that the members of the community must know that voting is the administration’s fundamental right and duty. The officials have ben urging the people of the various communities to complete formalities and prerequisites so that they can vote in peace.
The NICE officers have been working with national and international partners to educate the people about voting. The offcials
Currently, MEC is in its first phase of voter verification exercise, as physical verification started on Tuesday, May 13 and is expected to end on Thursday, May 15, in various districts including Machinga.
During visit to Nlungu Centre, Traditional Authority (TA) Nyambi in Machinga North East, NICE Trust Programmes Officer, Francis Mugwa, observed that the center, with 676 registered voters, only had 41 people physically showing up for verification on the first day of the exercise.
Mugwa said the turn up was not impressive in light of the fact that the polls are less than four monhs away. But he has expressed hope that some registered voters will physically turn up for verification after the announcements.
He observed that some registered voters are verifying their details through their mobile phones.
“We are not very satisfied with the turn up; we however believe that digital verification is what has caused the low turn up. NICE Trust will work tirelessly with Area Civic Education Coordinators to mobilise people on how to go about the mobile verification process,
“Our expectation is that people will keep verifying through the phones beyond the three days of physical verification. The registration process will be open for a period of 21 days for all the members of the community.
NICE Trust in Machinga, has so far taken the campaign to many TAs including; Chamba, Malimba, Mposa, Chiwalo, and Kapoloma.