The Komenda College of Education has been declared winners of the maiden tertiary national insurance debate, beating St. Don Bosco College of Education in the finals.
For the effort, Komenda College received a gold trophy and cash awards, totalling 3,500 cedis for emerging winners from the Insurance Awareness Cordinators Group and the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana while Don Bosco also took home 2,000 cedis and souvenirs.
Speaking at the ceremony, Head of Reinsurance and Anti-Money Laundering at the National Insurance Commission, Esther Armah, said increasing the insurance penetration rate and coverage was a key mandate of the regulator.
She said the Commission had embarked on some activities to address the low penetration rate, adding that various provisions had been outlined in the Insurance Act, 2021 to help improve the current position.
She said while insurance was an investment that put people’s mind at ease, the challenges with claims payment had negatively impacted public perception and the industry would do all it could to reverse the trend.
Mr Michael Lamptey, a Principal Economics Officer, said despite the importance of insurance in the financial ecosystem, the low penetration rate was alarming.
He said the government recognised the importance of financial literacy to improve the situation and had launched a five-year plan to enhance awareness with insurance as a key focus.
Mr Lamptey said the programme was piloted in some districts of the country in September this year and a major roll out scheduled for December 2022 in partnership with the financial institutions and insurance industry.
The Head of Programme for Sustainable Economic Development GIZ, Detlev Axel Jahn, said the low insurance penetration rate of about two per cent called for education of the large population without insurance, especially in the informal sector.
He said it was the desire to bring insurance closer to the people that encouraged the GIZ to partner with the Insurance Awareness Cordinators Group on a campaign in 39 tertiary educational institutions to enhance understanding of insurance.
Mr Jahn said the exercise had help to sensitise the students on the importance role of insurance in the economy and to encourage them to educate the public on its usefulness.
“We believe that the more of this we do, the more people get educated about insurance and students are encouraged to develop the habit of investing and insuring while in school,” he added.
Mr Seth Kobla Aklasi, President of the Ghana Insurance Association, said the national tertiary debate would held annually.
Shaibu Ali, President of IBAG, said insurance was one of the surest way to reduce poverty.
The motion for the debate was “The recently passed insurance Act 2021 (Act 1061) is a panacea for the low insurance penetration and coverage in Ghana.”
St. John Bosco College spoke for the motion while Komenda College of Education was against the motion.
The National Insurance Debate, spearheaded among others by the IACG, GIZ, National Insurance Commission and Ghana Insurers Agents and Insurance Brokers, seeks to increase insurance knowledge among tertiary students and to encourage them to be change agents.