SINAZONGWE residents are spending nights in mobile national registration centres due to long distances from their villages.
And senior headman Simankawa of Mweemba chiefdom said it had now become unbearable for people from Sinazongwe to acquire NRCs.
A check conducted by The Mast in all the mobile NRC issuance centres in the district established that majority people especially at Nkandabwe covered long distances to reach the centre, forcing them to spend nights in order not to miss the opportunity to obtain NRCs.
Those talked to complained that the process was very slow.
Shadreck Siabasimbi, who is headman Malabali, confirmed that people were spending nights in mobile NRC issuance centres.
“Our children no longer even go to school waiting to get NRCs. The slow pace of the process is affecting school children, especially those in examination classes who have briefly abandoned learning to go and spend nights in centres hoping to get an NRC,” he said.
Another resident, Beatrice Siamweenya said, “We came here last week Friday at Nkandabwe centre but to date (Thursday) we have not been attended to because manpower from the officers is little and the number of people that want to get NRCs is very big. Some of us our babies are still small such that you can’t even stand on a queue.”
She complained that the situation was costly as they had to buy food whereas children left at home went hungry as there was no one to take care of them.
“The other issue is that orphans are finding it difficult to get NRCs. They are told to go and bring their dead parents as officers are not entertaining their relatives. Others whose mothers have been abandoned and fathers are nowhere to be seen also are denied getting NRCs and these people need to look for jobs,” said Siamweenya.
Judith Muzyole said those who lost their NRCs were not entertained, forcing them to spend nights hoping to be given a positive response.
Bruno Munkombwe, who is headman Sikalabula, complained that Sinazongwe Constituency was too vast with 28 wards.
Costern Sikatyanka said it would be difficult for young people to uplift their livelihood if they failed to get NRCs.
“An NRC is the first development in one’s life and if one doesn’t have it then they are doomed. Being in an opposition stronghold does not mean that we are not Zambians. Per centre there are more than 3,000 people that turn out to get NRCs but to our surprise only a 100 manage to get per day,” said Sikatyanka.
Zachariah Chikete, who is Maamba ward councillor, disclosed that a good number of people had been discouraged to acquire NRCs due to the slowness of the process.
“Some people have been flocking these mobile NRC centres as early as 02:00 hours but are still not attended to during the day forcing them to just give up. The teams are not friendly and it’s not good that our people should be disenfranchised based on slowness of the process and lack of good rapport from officers handling the exercise. If nothing happens to change the situation there will be a serious reduction on voter registration as people would have not acquired or replaced their lost NRCs,” said Chikete.
Mweezya ward councillor Kennedy Sikauba complained that young people who wanted to get NRCs for the first time were not given preference in some instances; instead, officers were only accommodating those that lost their cards.
And headman Simankawa said the traditional leadership in the area had resolved to invite the Head of State to come and witness the hardships people were experiencing to acquire NRCs in the area.
“We are very disappointed as traditional leaders with the manner this mobile NRC issuance team is handling things. Let President Lungu himself come to Sinazongwe and have an audience with us the traditional leadership because we are non-partisan, we work with the government of the day. Let this government listen to us the people and differentiate us from the politicians,” he said. “If the government is not careful, this process will leave us divided in the country as some will be Zambians while others not for they will have no identity cards.”
Simankawa disclosed that people from the valley had sacrificed a lot starting from the time they were relocated to pave way for the construction of Lake Kariba which now benefited the nation greatly through electricity as well as fish trade.
“Before the end of October, President Lungu must walk on the soil of Sinazongwe. We want him to come and witness hardships we are facing. Any leader worth their salt must listen to his people’s call and cry,” said Simankawa.