The Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) on Friday launched its newly created “DriveTime with Insurers” radio programme, to educate the public and stakeholders on the importance of signing onto an insurance policy.
The programme, which will run for 13 weeks, would educate listeners on the different kinds of insurance policies, the benefits of signing onto a policy, which companies are credible for insurance, and the rights of a claimant or customer who signs onto an insurance policy.
Mr Kofi Andoh, the Deputy Commissioner of the National Insurance Commission, said the education was important because until people got full understanding of insurance offerings they would not appreciate it.
He said over 90 percent of people were of the view that without a lawyer, they could not make a claim, which was false.
However, he explained, it was the conduct of some insurance companies; claimants were forced to go in for lawyers.
Mr Andoh advised players in the insurance sector to desist from the misconduct and attend to claimants who consulted them over claims without lawyers.
The Deputy Commissioner advised the companies to treat customers well as frustrations could give customers bad impression about insurance in general.
Mr Mawuli Zogbenu, the Chairman of the DriveTime Committee, explained that specialised topics would be discussed on air with selected media channels within the 13-week period.
“For instance, if you have an insurance policy on your car and you sell that car out, the insurance policy ceases. It means that, there should be change of ownership and the new owner should take his own insurance policy on that vehicle,” he said.
Representatives from the 53 insurance companies and four reinsurance companies in the country, he said, would facilitate the education on the radio programme.
Mr Zogbenu said lists of selected media channels, days and time for each of episode of the programme would be made known to the public later.
Ms Aretha A. A. Duku, the President of the GIA, said the programme would help to save the good name of insurers.
The National insurance Commission report in 2018, she said, indicated that insurance penetration reduced by about one percent in 2017.
This, she said, was due to a number of challenges the insurance companies faced, hence, the need for the education to address them.