Insurance rates up

The National Insurance Commission (NIC) will introduce a new motor policy with enhanced benefits for motor insurance cover next month.

These would include the re-introduction of cover for emergency treatment. 100 per cent increase in third-party property damage limit, and 150 per cent increase in cover for commercial drivers and mates.

The Commissioner of the NIC, Miss Josephine Amoah, announced this on Friday when the commission donated ?250 million to the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in Accra. It was aimed at supporting the NRSC to execute its mandate of providing logistics and increase personnel of the Motor Traffic Unit (MTU), as well as embark on public awareness campaign on road safety in the country.

She explained that under the private comprehensive policy, a cover for the insured members of his family and gratuitous passengers and cover for damage resulting from named natural perils such as flood, had also been given consideration. Later on in the year, Ms Amoah assured that a procedure manual would also be introduced to facilitate the processing of the Motor Insurance Business.

She urged vehicle owners to cooperate with the insurance companies by paying adequate premium to enable them to provide the required quality of service. ?The cost of claims has risen to such levels that it cannot be supported by the current motor rates we charge,? she observed. To that end, she that the commission was revising the motor premiums to enable insurance companies to charge the appropriate premium.

Dispelling the negative perception that insurers were only interested in collecting monies, the commissioner said that plans were afoot for the NIC to support the Police Service to reduce road accidents especially through the use of breathilisers to check drunk-driving. In addition, she said that the NIC would sponsor the driver-training programmes of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRICC).

The commissioner assured the NRSC that the commission would continue to provide funds for its activities to complement efforts at reducing road accidents in the country. Receiving the money, the chairman of the NRSC, Mr Johnson Cliff Aboagye, said that they were in the final stages of coming out with an educational material to be used for teaching students about road safety measures.

He said that the commission had identified had identified almost all the major problems leading to most road accidents on the country?s roads and appropriate measures were being adopted to address them. He, therefore, thanked the NIC for the amount, which he said, would be used for the purpose for which it was given.