The National Registration Bureau (NRB) Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo has described as fake a communication in which he is alleged to have sought ministerial guidance on how to handle Malawi Congress Party (MCP)-affiliated NRB staff, which is to be deployed to the Southern Region.
In the alleged communication, which has been circulating on the social media since last week, Sambo is alleged to have informed that an unnamed minister that NRB had received instructions from OPC that it would be ideal if it deployed the newly recruited NRB staff to Southern Region.
But Sambo was expressing fear that the MCP-affiliated NRB registration officers would expose the issue because they are drunkards.
“As you are aware most of them are MCP members and some of them take liquor, are they not going to one day expose us that we are behind some rigging schemes after getting drunk? Please address my fears before I deploy them. As a matter of urgency, we also need additional 50 registration officers to beef up the Northern Region Team, please, you may liaise with the party leadership to give you the names. They are expected to undergo a one week training beginning Monday next week,” reads the purported communication to the unnamed minister.
But speaking to Nthanda Times in an interview on Monday, Sambo denied ever writing such a communication.
He also wondered why he would use unchartered communication channels to address his concerns to the minister.
Meanwhile, NRB has issued a statement advising Malawians to ignore the said communication.
“A misleading message has been circulating, purportedly from the Principal Secretary for NRB to a specific Minister. We kindly advise that you disregard this message entirely. We urge all stakeholders who have received it not to disseminate it further, as it is unfounded and inaccurate,” reads a statement from the NRB Public Relations Office.