Deputy Commissioner of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Michael Andoh, has described local markets in the country as extremely risky to be insured by insurance firms in the country.
Mr Andoh posits that, fire outbreaks resulting in the loss of millions of cedis is a usual occurrence in the country’s local markets thereby making them unattractive to be insured by insurance companies in the country.
“Most of our local markets are too risky for insurance companies, fire outbreak is just a matter of time because you know it will happen. Insurance companies do not insure certainties, they insure uncertainties, so if you are sure that this place will burn down every year, then of course that won’t be attractive for the insurance company,” he stated.
“So insurance companies are not intentionally running away from these places, but we all need to come together to improve the situation in our markets to be able to insure them,” Mr Andoh added.
The Deputy Commissioner of the NIC made the assertion during a media engagement following the fire outbreak in the Kantamanto market and just recently in the Kaneshie market.
The fire outbreak in both markets have resulted in the destruction of goods worth millions of Ghana cedis.
Speaking further on the subject, Mr Andoh called for a multi-stakeholder approach between the NIC, Ministry of Local Government and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to decongest the local markets and make them insurable.
“There is the need to for the NIC, MMDAs and Ministry of Local Government to collaborate to decongest the market, sanitize the electrical connections in market and also educate the market women so we can insure them,” he averred.
