Members of the National Taskforce on Compulsory Insurance on Thursday invited two operators of private commercial buildings in Accra for non-compliance of the Insurance Act, (Act 724).
The section 183 and 184 of the Insurance Act, 2006 (Act 724) mandate owners of all private commercial buildings both completed and under construction to take insurance policy to protect third parties against collapse of buildings and other allied perils, and also ensure that all vehicles have insurance policy.
Two people from Chateau Towers and one from Lara Shopping Centre, all in Osu, were invited to the Police Headquarters for questioning.
They are Mr Patrick Mensah, Ivonne Sonn, both interpreters at Chateau Towers, and Santhosh Kumar, Branch Manager of Lara Shopping Centre.
The Taskforce made up of officials from National Insurance Commission, Ghana National Fire Service and Ghana Police Service visited six other commercial buildings including MTN Building, Beaufort Properties, both in Ridge; Highgate Hotel, Weston College, both in Asylum Down; Sparrow Productions and Pickmix Company Limited in Kokomlemle.
Among the six, only Pickmix Company Limited, Nestle Distributor and Warehouse operators provided complete documents for compulsory insurance and Fire Certificates.
The rest were in the process of acquiring their certificates and they were given a one-week ultimatum to provide their certificates to the National Insurance Commission.
Mr Joseph Bentor, Member of the National Taskforce, said the exercise was to sensitise the public on the Act and the need to comply.
?Today?s exercise is a breaking line and from next week the Taskforce will start making arrests of those who will fail to meet the deadline. I hope at that time nobody will hold brief for the offenders,? he added.
He said the Act also mandates the owners of private commercial buildings both completed and uncompleted to display a copy of their insurance certificates in their premises and urged all commercial property owners to comply with the law to ensure safety of their workers.
Mr Bentor said in their earlier visits most of the owners complied and the Thursday?s visit was zero down to those who did not comply during the time.
He therefore assured the public that the inspection tour would be a routine one until all of them comply.
Section 183 of the Act states: ?A person shall not construct or cause to be constructed a commercial building without insuring with a registered insurer the liability in respect of construction risks caused by negligence or the negligence of servants, agents or consultants which may result in bodily injury or loss of life to or damage to property of any workman on the site or of any member of the public.?
While section 184 also states that every commercial building shall be insured with an insurer against the hazards of collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood, and an insurance policy issued for it.
