Malawi puts its national ID on the phone, and drops the expiry date
The Nzika wallet carries a digital national ID, birth and marriage certificates. On launch day the government also ruled that ID cards no longer expire.
Malawi's National Registration Bureau launched the Nzika Digital ID Wallet on 16 September, International Identity Day. The first release holds three credentials: the national ID, a birth certificate and a marriage certificate. The app is available on Google Play and Apple's App Store.
The digital ID is meant to carry the same validity as the physical card when people use services or make transactions. It supplements the card rather than replacing it: physical documents remain valid.
An ID that does not expire
At the launch, Homeland Security Minister Peter Mukhito announced that the biometric national ID card will no longer carry an expiry date, with immediate effect. "A person's identity does not expire," he said.
Both changes are also about cost. Officials expect the wallet to reduce the bureau's need to print cards, saving on consumables and cutting the time it takes to get an ID. The groundwork is unusually complete: national ID coverage has reached 99 per cent, according to Biometric Update.
The harder question is reach. A wallet needs a smartphone and data, and local press has already raised the digital gap as a challenge for the rollout. Keeping the physical card valid, and now permanent, means no one is pushed onto a phone they do not have.
Research desk, Online
Stories by the IQGov research desk are written from public documents, official data and on-record statements, which are listed and linked at the end of each piece.
