The regulator for insurance in Ghana, the National Insurance Commission (NIC), has assured it will continue to clamp down on persons dealing in fake insurance stickers.
This follows the arrest of a member of a suspected cartel dealing in fake insurance stickers upon a tip-off near the Aboabo DVLA Office at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region after the police in the area carried out a joint operation with the NIC on May 19, 2020.
Commissioner of Insurance Justice Ofori speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb described the situation in the Ashanti Region as worrying but was confident that the introduction of the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and enforcement by the Police MTTD, will largely curb the menace in order to protect innocent third parties and policyholders.
“This is an indication that the Commission is not resting, despite the introduction of the Motor Insurance database. We know that there are bad guys out there and whatever you do they will try to undermine it. The Kumasi operation was successful, and we are ready to embark on a similar operation anywhere in the country,” Mr. Ofori stated.
“We are working so much with the MTTD and we believe that with such a collaboration it will take us far so my advice to the bad guys is that they should stay out of this business. We are here to protect the insured and the general public and we would do whatever it takes to get this done,” he assured.
He, however, stated the commission has in the last quarter of 2019 published the names of regulated insurance entities in good standing adding, motorists should only deal with those registered companies.
Additionally, the NIC this year has caused the arrests of a number of persons issuing fake motor insurance stickers to motorists.
These include the arrest of the Insurance Agent, 72-year old Nana Kodua Marfoh for submitting fake documents to the Kumasi Area Office of the National Insurance Commission (NIC).
Two other Agents of Millenium Insurance Company Limited have also been arrested for possessing fake ALLIANZ INSURANCE sticker booklets also at the premises of the same Kumasi DVLA Office.
On January 1, the National Insurance Commission began the implementation of the Motor Insurance Database (MID) policy to clamp down on the menace of vehicles with fake motor insurance stickers plying on roads.
The Commission issued a directive giving all insurance companies up to January 20, 2020 to migrate all their information to the new Motor Insurance Database system.
Deputy Commissioner at the NIC recently disclosed it has electronically issued over 272,000 stickers following the implementation of the MID policy.