News
327,948 insurance stickers captured on database—Justice Ofori
A total of 327,948 newly issued insurance stickers have been captured on the Motor Insurance Database (MID) as of May 19 this year, the Commissioner of Insurance, Justice Ofori has said.
The NIC in a statement on the update on the MID and efforts to clamp down on fake insurance operators, copied to the Ghanaian Times, said it was working assiduously to clamp down the activities of fake insurance operators to save lives and properties.
The NIC’s Motor Insurance Database (MID) was implemented in January this year with the objective to curb the menace of some unscrupulous people issuing fake motor insurance to unsuspecting members of the general public and thus endangering lives and property.
The statement said some motorists could not access insurance when their vehicles were involved in a crash due to the purchase of fake insurance.
“The reality dawns on these motorists only when involved in accidents and innocent third party victims of such accidents are left to take care of themselves without any compensation,” the statement said.
It said in spite of the MID, some unscrupulous entities and individuals continued to issue fake license.
“So far the Ashanti Region leads in the number of arrests made and the lenses of the Regulator are being zoomed in to their last pixels across the country in order to fish out these miscreants to rid our roads off the perpetrators of this phenomenon,” the statement said.
“The fight by the NIC to eliminate fake motor insurance continues”, he assured the general public and encouraged them to check the validity of their insurances using the short code *920*57# and follow the instructions for verification.
Relatedly, the statement said the Ashanti Regional Police in a joint operation with the National Insurance Commission NIC on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 busted a member of a suspected cartel of fake insurance stickers upon a tip-off near the Aboabo DVLA Office.
It said the investigator, Detective Sergeant Gideon Sellasy Avemegah confirmed the arrest and indicated that the outcome of the investigations would be known to the public at the end of the investigations.
The statement also said on Friday, February 28, 2020, the Kumasi Police busted a known insurance agent, 72-year old NANA KODUA MARFOH for submitting fake documents to the Kumasi Area Office of the National Insurance Commission (NIC) in an attempt to access the motor Compensation Fund (Comfund).
The arrest was made at the instance of the Kumasi Area Manager of the NIC upon submission of the fake documents. The case is currently being investigated by the police.
The statement said a female insurance agent who sells motor insurance for Loyalty Insurance was caught issuing fake insurance stickers of Prime Insurance Company Limited to members of the general public at the premises of the Kumasi DVLA Office.
In a similar fashion, two agents of Millennium Insurance Company Limited have also been arrested for possessing fake Allianz Insurance sticker booklets also at the premises of the same Kumasi DVLA Office and the cases were under investigation.
BY TIMES REPORTER
Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem has today revealed in Parliament that special audit has uncovered over payments for transportation of grains in respect of the dry spell expenditure.
According to the Deputy Minister, Under the Farmer Food Relief and Recovery Programme, a transportation company was contracted to transport 134,000 metric tonnes of maize and rice to farmers across the country at a contract sum of GH¢115.2 million.
Even though the company transported only 35,000 metric tonnes which should have costed GH¢30.9 million, the company was paid GH¢50 million.
In addition to this payment, the company was given 7,311 metric tonnes of rice equivalent to 14,622 bags of 50kg rice, which amounts to GH¢11.7 million in lieu of cash for no work done. This brings total payment to GH¢61.7 million.
As a result, the Auditor-General accordingly rejected an amount of GH¢65.2 million that was requested by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as additional payment to the said transport company.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Deputy Minister for Finance, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, has revealed that thousands of tonnes of food supplied under government’s 2024 dry spell intervention cannot be accounted for after a special audit.
According to him, the audit found discrepancies in the supply of rice and maize purchased by the Government of Ghana to support farmers and vulnerable communities affected by the dry spell.
He explained that government paid for 34,000 metric tonnes of rice to help address the impact of the dry spell. However, records from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture show that only 24,000 metric tonnes were received and distributed.
He noted that about 10,000 metric tonnes of rice remain unaccounted for even though the full quantity had already been paid for by the state.
The deputy minister also disclosed that government had contracted a company to supply 100,000 metric tonnes of maize as part of the intervention.
He said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture submitted Stores Receipt Advice as proof that the full quantity of maize valued at GH¢771.2 million had been delivered. The document was presented to the Ministry of Finance to facilitate payment.
However, the audit revealed that only 11,900 metric tonnes of maize were actually supplied and distributed.
He further stated that the Stores Receipt Advice used to support the payment was accompanied by a checklist certified by the internal auditor of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The findings form part of a special audit conducted to review government expenditure related to the dry spell response in 2024.
By Jacob Aggrey
