YFM has established that about 125 street kids under the age of 16 in Zomba city did not participate in the mass national identity registration exercise by the National Registration Bureau (NRB).

Some of the kids interviewed by YFM online complained that they failed to do so as they had no one to facilitate their registration process.

“I don’t have anyone to register for me, my mother died and my dad developed mental illness. The elder brother I am left with was abusing me and I failed to stay with him,” he explained.

When quizzed on the issue, NRB Spokesperson Norman Fulatira denied the responsibility saying their duty is not to facilitate one’s registration.

“It is the responsibility of the Social Welfare Department, parents, guardians and anybody who was present during the birth of the child to register a kid,” he explained.

Zomba District Social Welfare Officer, Stephano Joseph said the office was not able to do so as the street kids keep on moving from one place to another.

“We will still work with key players who are also working with street kids to mobilize them so that they are registered,” he said.

According to NRB all those who were not registered during the five phases are supposed to get registered at their District Council Offices.

President Peter Mutharika announced last month that over nine million Malawians were registered during the exercises from May to October 2017.

Mutharika described the figure as a 100 percent representation against the initial targeted population.