By Lamin Njie
President Adama Barrow has called on insurance firms in the country to lay special emphasis on their image.
“You need to work on your image and reputation since a good reputation and image would engender trust and confidence which would eventually lead to acceptance and patronage,” Mr Barrow said Tuesday in a statement read on his behalf by Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Mambury Njie at the official opening of the 35th ordinary general assembly of the Council of Bureau of the Ecowas Brown Card Scheme held at Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.
The Ecowas Brown Card Scheme is a system designed in 1982 to guarantee to the victims of road accident a prompt and fair compensation of damages caused by non-resident motorist from ECOWAS member states visiting their territory. The scheme functions through a network of 14 national bureaus disseminated in each of the fourteen countries of the Ecowas sub-region.
Mr Barrow said members should put in place measures to overcome the challenges and promote the Scheme.
He said: “One issue that comes to mind is the public’s perception about insurance. We get to hear dissatisfied voices recounting one form of challenge or the other experienced by insuring public in their dealings with the insurance companies.”
The President said most of the insuring public’s concerns are invariably linked to the way the handling bureaus and insurance companies “discharge their claims obligation to our citizens and third-party claimants”.
“The essence of insurance we all know is to pay genuine claim promptly and adequately. It is only when victims and claimants receive their claims promptly that we can build that trust with the scheme as a social intervention programme and all must put their hopes and confidence in,” he added.
