IT’S CRIMINAL
…Issuance of unusable NRCs in north must be investigated – Changala
By Mast Reporter
THE issuance of fake green National Registration Cards (NRCs) in the northern parts of Zambia is the highest act of criminality being committed by the United Party for National Development (UPND) administration, human rights activist Brebner Changala has said.
And opposition Green Party (GP) president Peter Sinkamba has described reports that people in the northern part of Zambia are being issued with defective NRCs with wrong information as serious.
Changala, who is also a governance and civil rights activist, said it was a criminal offence for government to issue fake NRCs in northern parts of the country which recipients were unable to use anywhere.
Citing a video captured by Radio Mano FM, The Mast yesterday reported that thousands of recipients of new NRCs in the north may not be able to vote in next year’s general elections because their cards have glaring anomalies, including particulars handwritten with a pen and wrong names of chiefdoms and districts.
“The issuance of fake green national registrations cards (NRCs) in the northern part of Zambia by the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) is a serious crime,” Changala said.
Some of the affected citizens in Chief Misengo’s chiefdom in Northern Province have complained that they have been unable to sell maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), register for the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) or access their Social Cash Transfer payments because their newly issued NRCs are being rejected everywhere as invalid.
In one of the many such cases, an NRC issued to a villager of Chief Munkonge’s area in Kasama, Nothern Province, has Chief Nabwalya Chiombo and Mpika District in Muchinga Province instead.
Changala said it was highly unacceptable and a crime not only to issue fake NRCs but to designate an NRC for an individual to a place where that person was not born.
In an interview with The Mast yesterday, he wondered what the motive was for issuing unusable NRCs in the northern parts of the country only and not in any other parts.
“And find out whether what is going on in the Northern Province is exactly what is going on in other regions, which I doubt. But we need an investigation,” Changala said.
He demanded a full statement from Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu on why he had allowed the vice.
“The minister of home affairs must make a ministerial statement to that effect. And those who are doing that exercise must be held to account,” Changala said.
He said Zambians and the donors who were funding such activities were demanding answers.
“What is happening in the Northern Province in terms of NRCs, Zambians, donors and all stakeholders need a full statement from the government, especially the minister of home affairs,” Changala said.
He said the action by the UPND to issue fake cards only in the northern regions was criminal in nature.
“They will not accept that abuse, that criminal conduct. And they must not wait any single time. The restriction which has happened in the Northern Province is a scandal. And full accountability must be called to order,” Changala said.
And opposition Green Party (GP) president Peter Sinkamba has described reports that people in the northern part of Zambia are being issued with defective NRCs with wrong information as serious.
“This reported scandal of UPND-led government issuing fake IDs in northern Zambia is a very serious governance and constitutional breach. No citizen deserves to be issued with a fake official document.
No citizen deserves to be disenfranchised or denied access to services through a fake scheme of government. Why should UPND-led government issue fake official documents in northern part of Zambia? Why not South-western Zambia?” Sinkamba said.
He wondered why the problem should happen in an election year.
“As a member of the Tonse Grand Alliance, we will urgently call for a United Opposition Front joint meeting to discuss this serious scandalous constitutional breach so that collectively, we map out immediate remedial action,” Sinkamba said.
Chief Misengo and numerous victims of the scam in his chiefdom in Northern Province have appealed to government to withdraw the useless NRCs and issue valid ones with correct particulars.
