Lang'ata MP Phelix Odiwuor says he’s working on
a bill that seeks to scrap the requirement for compulsory motor vehicle insurance.
The legislator, popularly known as Jalang'o,
said he plans to table the Motor Insurance Bill, 2024, in February when
Parliament resumes from recess and save car owners untold suffering in the
hands of insurance companies.
In a video message on Thursday, the first-time
MP said most car owners in Kenya take insurance cover not so they can get
compensated in the event of an accident, but just so police won’t arrest them.
“We even have briefcase insurance companies
that all they do is just give third-party policies, meaning they don’t pay any
claim anywhere. We even have insurance companies that tell you we can give you
a sticker for a day; this sticker for a day is not that you are insured; it’s
just so you don’t get arrested,” he said.
“That is what 90 per cent of Kenyans run with around here. Why would we then have a sticker knowing very well that you won’t be paid?” he posed.
According to the MP, several insurance companies
have been taken to court for refusing to honour claims lodged by compressive policyholders.
He said thousands of car owners queue in
insurance companies days on end seeking compensation, but the companies are
cutting corners.
Insurance firms, he said, have employed claims
officers whose work is to take policyholders in cycles, and in the event they
decide to pay, they ask for something called excess.
“They will always make sure that you don’t get
everything that you signed when you were getting insured. We want to compel
insurance companies to make sure that they start paying claims.
Jalan’go said his Bill seeks to introduce
amendments to the Insurance Act such that car insurance becomes car assurance
with a presigned agreement where the insurer commits in writing to honour
attendant liabilities from all vehicle policies.
“Before you get your insurance sticker, they
must come to an agreement with you that in case of an accident, they will
actually pay. We want to make motor insurance be an assurance, meaning it must
be paid.”
The MP asked Kenyans to give views on the Bill
based on their personal experiences with insurance companies to ensure all
loopholes that unscrupulous insurers are exploiting to swindle Kenyans are
sealed.
His personal proposal is that comprehensive
cover policyholders should be refunded at least half of the premium paid within
a policy year.
Jalan’go avers that insurance companies invest
premiums paid by policyholders, and there should therefore be some form of
benefit on the returns on investment that goes to the policyholder.
“Insurance companies take our money, they do
business with it and you do not get returns and when you get into an accident,
they also don’t want to pay you. Can you image if you took Sh500,000 and you
put up a business, at the end of the year, you would have had returns.
In his reasoned opinion, Jalango holds that if car insurance is made voluntary, it will make insurance companies to start treating motor vehicle insurance as a serious policy.
He said a lack of ready clientele, many of who take cover as a formality to avoid arrest, would spark competition amongst
insurers, who will now be left with a very limited pool of customers to share amongst themselves.
As such, the insurance companies will start
honouring claims to retain customers.
“They will start advertising even saying if you
insure with us, we will ensure we pay you. These claims officers who take you
round will now become jobless.
“We want to make sure that if you have a sticker in your car, you know very well that you will be paid."
