The National Registration Bureau (NRB) said the wallet would initially contain a digital national ID, birth certificate and marriage certificate. Other government-issued documents could be added later.
NRB Spokesperson Norman Fulatira said the initiative built on Malawi’s mass registration programme, which began in 2017 and registered slightly more than 9 million citizens. “For the first time, we had every citizen walking across the country with a national identity card,” Fulatira said.
However, the cost and speed of printing physical cards, alongside limited cases of fraud, created a need for a digital alternative. “We noted that, as a country, we needed to move forward and introduce a digital ID in the form of the Nzika wallet,” Fulatira said.
Malawians will be able to download the wallet from Google Play and Apple’s App Store following the launch on September 16. Citizens living abroad will also be eligible to register, provided personal details appear in Malawi’s national identity database.
Fulatira acknowledged that smartphone and internet access remained limited but said physical cards would continue operating alongside the digital service. “The digital ID does not take out the physical ID,” Fulatira said. “The physical ID will still remain in place and will still be relevant and valid.”
“The digital ID is just an addition to the physical ID.”
The rollout will therefore be gradual as smartphone ownership and internet access expand.
Security measures include password protection and recurring checks designed to confirm that the person accessing the wallet is physically present. “We have made tremendous efforts to make sure that it is well protected,” Fulatira said.
“There are liveness checks and measures to ensure that the digital ID is password protected.”
The initiative is also expected to reduce demand for printed cards, lower material costs and address delays. The NRB has not provided a precise estimate of expected savings.
“We expect to save millions of Malawi kwacha,” Fulatira said. “I may not be able to quantify it right now, but we will be able to save substantial amounts of money.”
The NRB plans a nationwide rollout rather than introducing the wallet region by region.
“Once we launch on the 16th, the rollout begins immediately,” Fulatira said. “As long as you are in the national ID database of Malawi, you will be able to onboard.”
–ChannelAfrica–
