By Scoop Reporter
IT IS mischievous to attempt to send away people seeking National Registration Cards (NRCs) without birth certificates because the health sector especially in rural areas is none existent, Namwala United Party for National Development (UPND) Member of Parliament Moono Lubezhi has said.
Ms. Lubezhi has appealed to MPs and senior party officials especially in areas without UPND parliamentary and civic representation to take keen interest in the mobile registration and ensure that more people obtain NRCs.
She says it is a well-known fact that most rural areas do not have health centres for child delivery with most mothers depending on traditional birth attendants and wondered where they would obtain the birth certificates from.
She claims the health system in most rural and peri-urban areas is none existent and asking parents to produce a birth certificate in order to get an NRC for their children is a mockery.
“16 years ago, most of these rural areas had no health facilities where someone could deliver and be given a birth record. Even the 650 health centres they are talking about where only started in 2011 and have not even finished them.
“I can simply say the health sector in the country is none existent and yet someone is asking for documentation which can only be obtained from a health sector which doesn’t exist,” Ms. Lubezhi said.
She says people should not look at the NRC as a tool for voting but an important national identification document necessary even in the bailing out of court of opposition members that come into conflict with the PF.
She says there is need for everyone to get involved and ensure that children that are sent back for lack of documentation are assisted.
Government has flagged off the mobile issuance of green national registration cards.
