The National Registration Bureau (NRB) says all is set for registration over 600,000 children in first phase of the mass child registration exercise starting from October.

Speaking in Lilongwe during mass child registration workshop, Principal Secretary for National Registration Bureau in the Ministry of Homeland Security Mphatso Sambo said NRB is targeting children under the age of 16 who are to be issued with unique national identification (IDs) numbers and compulsory birth registration certificates for the new born babies.

According to Sambo, the first phase of the exercise will take place in Lilongwe East, Karonga and Mwanza Districts.

He said: “This is a continuation of the process of registering everyone so that every Malawian has unique identification and for those who are less than 16 years-old they will be issued with the birth certificate and for those who turn 16 years-old will be issued with the national ID.”

He added that the Bureau intends to target 8.4 million children in subsequent phases of the mass registration.

Speaking during the same workshop, Minister of Homeland Security Jean Sendeza said government has set aside K8 billion for the registration exercise.

“It is a lot of money, but what I know is that the development partners are providing and contributing a lot to this project but as government through our Ministry, the Bureau has contributed $8.4 million,” Sendeza said.

NRB is working in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other Stakeholders to implement the Mass Child registration.

On her part, UN Resident Coordinator for Malawi Maria Do Valle Ribeiro  described the mass child registration as a step ahead arguing it will help the country to plan well for social service allocation to the citizenry.