The Anti Voters Apathy Project (AVAP) says it is concerned with the rate at which the issuance of the mobile registration cards (NRC) is going in the rural areas.
AVAP Programme Officer Richwell Mulwani says most rural communities have opted to farming and are not concerned with acquiring the NRCs.
Mr. Mulwani told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that most rural communities who are mainly reliant on farming have paid particular attention to farming and some are not even aware of the exercise.
“Many people are now farming and its difficult for them to go to places where the NRCs are being issued which in most cases are also far. In Mapatizya for example, people have completely shifted to their farms, they will only come back after the farming season. This is a concern to us” he said.
He said AVAP has since engaged its civic educators in the various communities where the issuance of the NRC is taking place to sensitize people and make them acquire the NRCs.
Mr. Mulwani has however commended government for the exercise saying it is the best step towards the continuous voter registration.[quote]
He has since called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to do an evaluation of the national registration cards issuance exercise to determine whether they would reach the target or not.
He said the farming communities’ need to be given another chance especially after the farming season so that all those who will not acquire the cards can do so.
He said there is need to ensure that people are not disfranchised for the future elections because they do not have NRC.
Government has allocated K22 billion for the second phase of the ongoing mobile national registration cards issuance and is covering Northern, Southern and Central provinces.
This was after successfully carrying out the first phase in North-Western, Western and Eastern provinces.
ZANIS
NRCs wont put food on these people’s tables or pampasa to be precise