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Sagnerigu, Ghana – The National Insurance Commission and the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service will soon clamp down on vehicles with fake and invalid insurance policies in the country, Deputy Commissioner of the NIC Kofi Andoh has hinted.
According to Mr. Andoh, there are many vehicles including commercial and private ones on the roads that are without insurance policies whereas some of those that have too, their insurance policies are either fake or invalid.
“Both the vehicle owner who doesn’t have an insurance policy and the one with a fake or invalid insurance policy are violating the law. Some have deliberately bought insurance policies from middlemen which they know are fake. Using an insurance policy that is fake or invalid puts the life of the driver, passengers and pedestrians in serious danger. Because in the event of an accident, there will not be any form of insurance cover for either the driver, passenger or pedestrian who has suffered some form of injury or loss”, he told the SavannahNews in an interview during a training of trainers workshop organised by the NIC in Sagnerigu in the Northern Region.
The purpose of the training was to handover a set of mobile devices to officers of the MTTD from the Upper West, Upper East, North East, Northern and Savannah Regions which can help them check the authenticity and validity of the insurance policy of any vehicle claiming to have one.
The training was also intended to train the MTTD officers on how to use the devices which according to Mr. Andoh are currently being deployed nationwide to all MTTD regional and district commands.
He explained that, after the training, the MTTD officers are expected to return to their respective regions and also train their colleagues on how to use the devices to check fake and authentic insurance policies as well as their validity.
“What the introduction of the mobile devices by the NIC also means is that, the MTTD officers will no longer use their physical eyes to read insurance policy stickers on vehicles in order to determine their authenticity and validity. However, with the aid of the mobile device, they will just scan the insurance policy sticker and within a minute or some seconds a message will pop up indicating the insurance validity or otherwise. If it is fake too, the device will tell,” Mr Andoh indicated.
The Deputy Commissioner of the NIC admonished Ghanaian motorists to buy authentic insurance policies from recognized insurance companies in order to avoid any arrest and prosecution in future. He said in order to determine the authenticity of any insurance policy, “right after purchasing one you will receive an sms on your mobile phone telling you you’ve purchased an insurance policy from company A or B and it will expire on such date. Once you don’t get such an sms, you need to go back to the company you purchase your policy from and challenge them. Alternatively especially for persons travelling on commercial vehicles, dial *920*57# and insert the vehicle registration number, it will tell you whether the vehicle is insured or not”, he stated.
Meanwhile Supt. Dr Samuel Sosu Mensah, Director of Operations, MTTD Headquarters acknowledged that with the introduction of this digital device, the work of officers of the MTTD would become much easier when it comes to accident related investigations.
He also indicated that, the mobile phones are linked to a national digital platform which creates opportunity for data collection and analyses by all the stakeholders involved in ensuring road safety and traffic law enforcement in the country.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Philip Liebs
