The Chief Justice, Justice Getrude Torkono, has tasked Judges in the country to be abreast of the country’s insurance laws to enable them to deliver fair and effective judgment on disputes arising from insurance.
She said judges were not repository of all knowledge but must be conversant with the new Insurance Law 2021 (Act 1061) to make erudite judgement on insurance cases.
Justice Torkono who made the appeal in a speech read on her behalf by the Director of the Judicial Training Institute, Amadu Tanko, at a day’s workshop on insurance for High Court Judges in Accra yesterday, said that would help promote the growth of the insurance industry and promote public confidence in the sector.
Organised by the National Insurance Commission, the programme was meant to assist the judges to have deeper understanding of the salient laws and policies insurance.
It was attended by 44 Supreme Court, Appeals Court and High Court Judges from the Greater Accra and Central regions.
The judges were taken through the Insurance Act, 2021 (Act 1061), which replaced the Insurance Act, 2008(Act 724), Cargo Insurance, and ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme.
As part of the programme, each participant was presented with a certificate and copy of the Insurance Act, 2021(Act 1061).
Justice Torkono expressed concern about the low insurance penetration and coverage in the country.
Quoting statistics from the NIC, the Chief Justice said the country’s insurance penetration was two per cent and said about 75 per cent, representing about 25 million Ghanaians did not have insurance.
That, she said pose a threat to the insurance industry in particular and the economy as a whole and the judiciary particularly judges must help in addressing that gap by giving fair judgement on insurance-related cases to engender public confidence in insurance.
Justice Torkono said judges served as the arbiters of disputes and must be conversant with the insurance laws to deliver judgement which were to be fair to the parties in a dispute.
The Board Chairperson of the NIC, Ms Abena Kessewaa Brown, said the workshop was aimed at enhancing the capacity of the judges to apply and interpret insurance laws effectively, ensuring informed adjudication of insurance-related cases and promoting consistency in justice delivery.
She said judges were custodians and interpreters of the laws of the country and it was crucial they were educated particularly on insurance laws to help them make better judgements on insurance-related cases.
The Acting Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Michael Kofi Andoh, said in delivering insurance services, there were bound to be disputes between policy holders and insurance companies.
Therefore, Mr Andoh said, it was important the judges were updated with what was happening in the industry so that in the delivery of their mandate they would be guided by relevant information and up-to-date regulations in the delivery of their judgement.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
