The national ID registration outreach exercise registered 1, 556, 613 people, beating its target of 1.5 million by over 56,000, Principal Secretary for the National Registration Bureau (NRB), Mphatso Sambo, told journalists Tuesday in Lilongwe.

NRB had implemented the exercise through eight phases in all the 28 districts, ending it in May.

Sambo attributed the success of the outreach registration to community support and civic education through various channels by the bureau, among others.

However, Sambo disclosed that NRB is embarking on another four-month nationwide mop-up registration from 10 June to August, targeting "more people that were still missed during the outreach registration".

That, according to Sambo, is besides the continuous registration taking place in NRB district offices, post offices and other designated places.

"In the new mop-up campaign, we will go back to every district and every center to give a chance to every Malawian who missed the outreach registration to register. We believe at the end of the campaign, everyone will have been registered," he said.

During the mop-up registration, said Sambo, NRB will deploy over 1000 employees to work in 5002 centers across Malawi.

Salary delays, faculty equipment, misinformation and unavailability of electricity were some of the major challenges that marred the outreach registration, according to Sambo.

Moving forward, Sambo, who said NRB is moving to resolve those issues, called for speedy funding for the bureau to effectively manage the mop-up registration.