Jarklin Xiong of Ghana Heavy Duty Trucks and Spare Parts being whisked away by the police
Six staff of some private commercial entities in Accra were yesterday arrested by the National Taskforce instituted by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) to ensure the compulsory insurance of private commercial buildings- both completed and under construction.
The 16-member taskforce made the arrests at Osu, Asylum Down and Spintex Road in Accra after several unsuccessful attempts to get the recalcitrant owners to acquire compulsory fire and building insurance for their buildings.
The suspects include Dennis Tettey, Ganesh Shrestha of Yan Tai International, which is putting up a five-storey building at Osu; Gao Quankang, Manager of Casino Gold at Osu; Mary Bempah, a staff of Eco Furniture Works at Asylum Down; Samuel Alfred, Fritz Jordan, workers of General Auto Zone, Spintex Road, and Jarklin Xiong, a staff of Ghana Heavy Duty Truck and Spare Parts.
Drama
During the operation, which began around 10 am at Eco Furniture Works, some workers nominated their colleagues to be arrested by the police instead of themselves.
A five-member taskforce from the National Insurance Commission (NIC) also arrested some owners of commercial property in Tema, who allegedly failed to insure their landed property.
The suspects were whisked away in a police van from their respective locations to the Cantonments District Police Command where they were detained.
The exercise was aimed at ensuring compliance with Sections 183 and 184 of the National Insurance Law (Act 724, 2006), which makes provision for the compulsory insurance of private commercial buildings – both under construction and completed.
Since October 2014, the Taskforce, chaired by Joseph Bentor, has been embarking on the inspection of commercial properties in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern and Greater Accra Regions. It has so far arrested about 165 persons.
The special taskforce comprised personnel of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), NIC and Ghana Insurance Association (GIA).
Mr. Bentor told journalists during the exercise that the taskforce shall relentlessly ensure compliance with the law.
“We started the exercise in January 2017 when we went round to inspect about 70 commercial buildings. We realized that they were not insured and warned them, and in February, we went round again and only a few had complied,” he said.
According to him, the Act was passed to protect users and third parties against liabilities.
He indicated that NIC has over the years educated property owners about the need to insure their property but they failed to adhere to the law.
Mr. Bentor appealed to members of the business community to insure their property to avoid arrest.
We regret the inadvertent use of a wrong story in an earlier edition of DAILY GUIDE on a similar subject.
By Melvin Tarlue
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