Issuance of new biometric NRCs on course

MORE than US$3 million has been spent on the planned issuance of new biometric National Registrations Cards (NRCs) to be used in the 2021 general elections, says Registrar-General, Matthews Nyirongo. Mr Nyirongo said the Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship (DNRPC) was on course in the preparation of new NRC biometric cards and hoped that the process would be completed in the shortest possible time. He said the department had faced financial challenges but that cooperating partners through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had helped out and the programme was on course. Mr Nyirongo said this in an interview in Chisamba, on the sidelines of a media workshop on birth registration and vital statistics activities that Government would soon announce when the NRC biometric process would be rolled out. “On the biometric of NRCs we seem to be on course and Government will soon announce to the public when the process will be rolled out, “But we are almost ready, so far we must have spent US$3.2 million coming from cooperating partners while the government has provided human resources and infrastructure,” he said. Mr. Nyirongo also observed that the Ministry of Health which had a presence in all the districts was able to capture 99 percent of children under the child health week and that his department would partner with them for birth registration process. He said the media was a key partner in the dissemination and awareness campaign on the importance of civil registration such as as birth and death registration which helped to safeguard Zambia’s security and unity through a strong data base.