President Peter Mutharika announced Thursday that over 9 million Malawians have registered during the national identity registration exercises which took place from May to October this year.

The exact figure of Malawians who have registered stands at 9, 186,689.

Mutharika said this figure is a 100 percent representation against the initial targeted population.

“There will be a continuous process of registration at all times,” said Mutharika during the official announcement of mass registration statistics and handing over of registration operations to the Malawi Government in Lilongwe.

He said the National ID card is a game changer that will deal with a number of anomalies in public service delivery.

“With a legal identity of every citizen, government will now flash out ghost workers from the public service and save more money,” he said.

Mutharika added that with the National ID, every citizen can now access banking services because banks will feel secure in dealing with legally identifiable citizens.

Mutharika pointed out that the system will also help government in tightening security on the country’s borders.

Representative of development partners and European Union Ambassador to Malawi Marchel Germann said this is a significant achievement that puts the country on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.

Germann added: “The digital importance of the national identification exercise offers a unique opportunity for Malawi to position itself as a modern state on the African map.”