MTTD, NIC collaborate to clamp down on producers of fake insurance stickers, certificates

The Motor Traffic and Transport Department, MTTD of the Ghana Police Service says it is collaborating with the National Insurance Commission, NIC, to clamp down persons issuing fake motor insurance stickers and certificates.

Speaking at a Training of Trainers programme on the newly introduced Motor Insurance Database, Operations Director at the MTTD, Supt. Dr. Sasu Mensah said the introduction of the Motor Insurance Database by the NIC has made it easier to identify and eliminate fake insurance from the system.

The issuance of fake motor insurance stickers has been a major worry for the National Insurance Commission, NIC. As part of efforts to get rid of this, the Commission has been organizing training sessions for MTTD officers across the country on how to identify the genuineness of a motor insurance.

As at 15th June, 2020, four hundred and six thousand, five hundred and twenty-two (406,522) electronic motor insurance stickers had been issued using the new Motor Insurance Database.

With the introduction of the Motor Insurance Database where police MTTD officers can just dial a code to check the genuineness of a motor insurance policy, the MTTD believes it will enhance enforcement and get fake insurance stickers from the system.

Director of operations at MTTD, Supt. Dr. Sasu Mensah stated that, “People are faking some insurance policies and others are even not insuring their vehicles so as a matter of urgency, this National Insurance Database is going to help us to easily identify those with fake motor Insurance certificates or stickers so that at the end of the day we shall go on the roads and enforce the legislation.”

“Basically, what we are going to do has to do with the fact that we are going to form joint enforcement teams in all the regions. It is in the form of a task-force where the police service or the MTTD will partner with the National Insurance Commission Officers to go on the road so that we nip the canker in the bud. It is a collaboration between us (MTTD), NIC and other stakeholders. Hitherto, the issue had to do with, you had to physically use your eyes to examine whether or not the stickers or the certificates are genuine. Right now where we have the QR system, I think it is going to make our enforcement drive very easy”.

The Ashanti Regional Police MTTD Commander, Supt. Emmanuel Adu Boahen, also urged members of the general public to always verify the genuineness of an insurance policy in order not to fall prey to the activities of fraudsters.

“The message that we are being given here and I also want to give out to the general public is that, we’ve just been taught that to verify the validity of your insurance, you just dial *920*57#, then you follow the prompt and you will be able to know whether a specific insurance policy is genuine or fake. So if you are a passenger and you are about to board a vehicle, which does not belong to you as a passenger, then you dial the number. Right there, you will be able to know whether the insurance is fake or not.”

“If you are also a driver and you have just been given a vehicle or about to be given a vehicle to drive, then you also have to do same because you are also even in charge of the vehicle. The car owners too should also go through the same process. They should do away with getting some cheap things from people. At times some people are ignorant to the extent that, peopled sell those insurance stickers to them without knowing. That is why we are giving this short code out *920*57#. But if you are aware of what you are doing, please put an end to that because from today, the detection is going to be very easy”.

A police MTTD officer who attended the training session spoke to Citi Business News about the benefits of the new system.

“When a person commits an offence and you are to arrest, you have grounds to prove that yes, this is true, the insurance has expired. Sometimes the date (on the certificate) has been tempered with, with a correction fluid. Gone are the days where you have to argue with a driver with this new system” he said.

The leaders of some transport unions have welcomed the impending exercise to clamp down on fake motor issuance stickers.

the leaders of some transport unions have welcomed the impending exercise to clamp down on fake issuance stickers.

Seth Kusi Amponsah, the Station Master for Asokwa PROTOA drivers at Adum in Kumasi, said “We have made it mandatory for our drivers to get original insurance stickers. We don’t want the fake ones because once you pay through that system, the government gets a percentage and its used for development projects. So we have been telling them that when you go to insurance offices, try to do the right thing. Do the original thing. That is our hallmark”.