UE/R: Stakeholders Engaged on types and Benefits of Insurance – National Insurance Commission

By: Raymond Wegwi

The National Insurance Commission (NIC), in Upper East Region has organized an educational campaign on the benefits and kinds of motor insurances available in the country and how to access them, with members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) ,Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Insurance Companies  in Bolgatanga.

Mr. Evans Badiako Osei of National Insurance Commission from Accra ,who took the participants through the purpose of the the stakeholders gathering, underscore the importance of drivers as the people moving the nation around and saying, now that Christmas and the general elections are at the corner, accidents which are bound to happen, are now luckily to increase, hence there is the need to educate them and the car owners to know the kinds of insurances and what they have to do to register and when there’s an accident how to put in a claim to mitigate their situation. According to him the, have comprehensive motor insurance which covers the injured, dead, the car, fire , theft and damaged property and there’s also the third party motor insurance for the the injured,  car,  and the dead ,however both policies are not covered the driver, the mate and the car owner, which he  urged them to go for the employer’s liability insurance or workplace compensation, to benefit from it  adding that, the drivers can come together and use their numbers to do a group insurance like personal insurance or life insurance and with their number, the premium is very low but the cover is much. Mr Badiako Osei, stated that when you do insurance, it makes you sleep well, because you know that,whatever happens to you , the insurance company will come to your aid.

In terms of insurance penetration in Ghana, he said it is low, about 1 to 1.5 %,  the reasons been that, motor insurance does not cover government vehicles which is the larger employer, health insurance not being considered in Ghana when it’s comes to motor insurance and low education about the importance of insurance. He asked the general public to always go for insurance especially properties like buildings , employer’s liability and workplace compensation insurance policies, because their premiums are low and the cover is much. He said the National Insurance Commission also mediate claims issues between the clients and the insurance companies and make sure they follow the claims guidelines to settle payments and with maximum of two months for documentation and two weeks for payments  to be effected .

Chief superintendent William Kpormegbe,  of MTTD, intimated that, insurance is very necessary as he has insured all his priorities, including his family and he is benefiting from it and urged them to do same to also avoid problems with the police on the road . From the DVLA , when the car is licensed and it has a good road worthiness papers and accident occurred, the always processed it fast for them to go for their claims.The NRSA rep, cautioned the drivers to always plan their journey, and avoid indiscipline activities especially this elections year to reduce accidents. The GPRTU Boss, who was the chairman of the occation, thanked the NIC for the education and pledged his union’s unflinching support to make sure  their members insured their cars and the insurance companies expressed commitment  to serve them well.- Raymond