The Northern Regional Office of the National Insurance Commission has intensified its compliance outreach in the region especially the enforcement of the third-party Compulsory Motor Insurance policy.
The exercise in collaboration with the officers of the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service in Tamale is to ensure the safety of drivers and riders as well as pedestrians. According management, in 2020, the commission through its routine inspections detected that some persons were engaging in the use of fake stickers unknowingly.
The police also had great difficulties detecting genuine stickers as they had no equipment to detect fake stickers. As a result, a new system – a short code enabler – to confirm the authenticity of the insurance policies has been purchased.
The Northern Sector Area manager for the NIC, Joseph Akanlagm, in an interview with the B&FT said the enforcement of compulsory insurance compliance required the backing of the police: “Without the police, there would be many vehicles with fake insurance certificates on the road. The insurers do not pay claims for vehicles with fake motor insurance policy hence the need for all to ensure genuine insurance.”
While the MTTD was doing the enforcement, the NIC also took advantage to sensitize the public on the need to insure their vehicles and motorbikes.
“The system is so flexible that when one renews the insurance, instantly one receives a text message confirming the detail of the package. So we told them that anyone that does not receive the text means either the package is fake or it has not been effected.
Through the exercise we observed that majority of the vehicles in the Tamale Metropolis have been insured but only few had their stickers in the database and therefore cannot conclude that they are fake until further investigations are conducted,” Mr. Akanlagm said.
He urged passengers to check the insurance of the vehicles before boarding to safeguard their welfare.
