The Chairman of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme of the National Bureau of Liberia has been elected alongside the co-chair and other officials of the bureau to steer the affairs of the institution.
The election of the new Chairman of the National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, Habib Dia, Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of Sunu Assurances, was conducted last week in the library of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) during the General Assembly of the Association of Insurance Companies of Liberia.
These election was held under the watchful supervision of ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme National Bureau of Liberia’s Secretariat, Ministry of Transport, Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) and Liberia Insurance Association (LIA).
The duties and responsibilities of these elected officials are to coordinate and reinforce the use of ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme’s third party motor vehicle liabilities by all member insurance companies of the Association of Insurance Companies of Liberia.
The co-chairman position was won on white ballot by a candidate (name not readily obtained) from the National Insurance Corporation of Liberia (NICOL).
The just-ended election was officiated by Jerome Y. Bennie as chairman of the ad hoc election committee, and observed by the President of the Liberia Insurance Association (LIA), Ethel Knuckles, and Shadrach D. Brown, Press and Public Affairs Director, Ministry of Transport, who deputized for Minister Sirleaf Tyler.
About fourteen (14) registered insurance companies, including Secure Risk Insurance, Mutual Benefit Assurance (MBA), Blue Cross Insurance, Inc., Palm Insurance, American Underwriters Group (AUG) and Sky Int’l Insurance, Inc., Omega Insurance Corporation, Continental General and Life Insurance Corporation, Atlantic Life and General Insurance and Accident and Casualty Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Corporation of Liberia (NICOL), Insurance Corporation of Africa (ICA) and Sunu Assurances, were declared fit by the election commission to participate in the election due to their good financial standings.
“The election was free, fair, transparent and democratic,” stated Bennie. He told journalists that each company was entitled to one vote, in keeping with the election guidelines.
However, of the 14 insurance companies which were to participate in the election, six did not turn out for the process. No reason for their absence was gathered from the ad hoc election commission chairman when quizzed by journalists.
Minutes after his election as Chairman of the Board of the National Bureau of Liberia of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, Habib Dia said he was delighted to be elected to the position.
He noted that he has been in the insurance business in Liberia for at least four years as leader for the market and he is familiar with the challenges that the sector is faced with.
Serving as the new chair of the National Bureau of Liberia of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, Dia said he is of the belief that his election is a great opportunity for Liberia in terms of development of the industry.
He added, “Motor vehicles insurance and protection is the first step in the insurance business, and not only the regulatory requirement of the ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme.”
Dia voiced that the scheme is the “advantage of the services and protection we offer to the people of Liberia and its citizens that matters.”
He pointed out that the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme also helps to improve cross border traffic and trade as well as the exchanges. He disclosed that the National Bureau of Liberia of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance is in a zone where they are struggling to integrate. “The ECOWAS Brown Card is a perfect tool for West Africa integration,” he noted.
For his part, Nathaniel Gbaba, Director of Insurance, Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), in a special statement earlier at the start of the Association of Insurance Companies of Liberia General Assembly, pledged the CBL’s support to the leadership that was elected to take the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance National Bureau of Liberia to higher heights in the insurance sector of the country.
The CBL official then challenged those elected to work in the best interest of the National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme as far as the implementation of the third-party motor vehicle liability is concerned.
Meanwhile, the induction ceremony of the newly elected leadership of the National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme is expected soon, according to the chairman of the ad hoc election commission, Jerome Y. Bannie.