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NIC in Ashanti, Eastern go after vehicles without insurance
The National Insurance Commission (NIC) offices in the Ashanti and Eastern regions, in collaboration with the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service in both regions, have begun exercises to clampdown on vehicles with fake insurance cover.
The exercise in the Ashanti Region took off after the presentation of 90 pieces of Gota detective machines to the MTTD and training of officers on their use by the NIC.
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Every district in the region is expected to have at least two of such devices to help scan all insurance covers to verify their authenticity.
The exercise, dubbed "Weed the road of fake insurance," was conducted on some major roads in the region, including the Santasi-Obuasi Road where a number of fake insurances were discovered.
Most of the drivers arrested did not even know they were operating with fake insurance because they were acquired through third parties.
They were cautioned but their insurance documents were seized and they were asked to contact credible insurance companies to reinsure their vehicles.
Fake insurance detection
The Ashanti Regional MTTD Commander, Superintendent Emmanuel Adu Boahene, told the Daily Graphic that even without scanning the insurance cover, the vehicle documents could be used to detect whether an insurance was fake or not.
He said the MTTD was going to be ruthless and through the national exercise, all such fake third parties would be tracked and arrested.
"This is a national collaborative exercise and we must all help as citizens to weed our roads of such miscreants," he said.
Superintendent Boahene said it was sad that it was only during an accident that most fake insurances were discovered.
"Now with these devices, we will arrest such people before the worse happens," he said.
The Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, NIC, Mr Kofi Andoh, said there were backup plans to ensure that the devices were quickly replaced or repaired if faulty.
He said the collaboration with the police was going to be sustained until sanity was brought back to the roads.
Eastern Region
The sanitisation operation by the NIC and MTTD to clamp down on vehicles with fake insurances and without insurance policies in the Eastern Region took five days and it was to enforce the Insurance Act 2006 (Act 724) and ensure vehicles plying the roads in the region met all insurance requirements to eliminate fake insurances from quack agents.
Stationed at Mile 50 on the main Koforidua-Accra road last Wednesday, the NIC and the MTTD jointly examined vehicles plying the road to check their insurances, road worthiness and driver’s licence.
Education and fake insurance
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Eastern Regional Manager of the NIC, Mrs Esther Konadu Ofori, said the exercise was necessary to educate and enforce the insurance act.
“This exercise is to enforce and educate drivers and vehicle owners on the Insurance Act 2006 (Act 724) so that in the event of accidents we can fall on their insurance companies to help them pay the demurrages. It appears many drivers are still having free lunch on the road, and together with the police we want to eliminate vehicles without insurance policies and fake insurances on the road,” she said.
She added that most drivers did not pay attention to the period of their insurance cover, putting them at risk of facing the law.
Appeal
Mrs Ofori appealed to drivers and vehicle owners to be very cautious of agents who assisted them with insurance.
“We are appealing to drivers, especially vehicle owners, to demand licence numbers issued to agents by the NIC and verify same before dealing with them, else fake insurances will be issued by the quack agents. You must also ensure you have received a confirmation message from the NIC to show the authenticity of your insurance policy,” she said.
She urged the general public to take interest in visiting the NIC to make enquiries about insurance policies and also report bad experiences with insurance companies for appropriate measures to be taken.
Prosecution
The Eastern Regional MTTD Station Officer, Chief Inspector Kwame Atiemo, cautioned drivers to check the authenticity of their insurance and make sure they were captured on the central database by using the short code *920*57# given by the NIC to avoid prosecution.
He said the number of accidents on the road in recent times required that the police became more vigilant on the insurance policies in order to assist in dealing with demurrages when accidents occurred.