The Koforidua Senior High Technical School (SECTECH) bus involved in the fatal crash on June 29, 2024, was not insured.
The bus, carrying about 50 staff members to a funeral, crashed on a sharp curve on the Aseseeso to Somanya road in the Eastern Region.
The accident resulted in the death of a female kitchen staff member and various injuries to dozens of occupants.
In the aftermath, Eastern Regional Minister Seth Kwame Acheampong, the Eastern Regional Director of Education, and leaders from the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) visited the bereaved family and the school to offer their condolences. They also visited six victims still hospitalized at the Eastern Regional Hospital.
The bus registered GV 84-22, was part of a fleet donated to schools by the government through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) in 2022. However, checks by Starr News Eastern Regional Correspondent Kojo Ansah revealed that the bus had never been insured.
This was confirmed by the National Insurance Commission’s (NIC) Motor Insurance Database, which had no records of insurance for the vehicle. The NIC office in Koforidua confirmed to Starr News that the bus had never been insured and, hence had no information in its records.
This lack of insurance means that the accident victims, including the deceased, will not benefit from any insurance package, and the vehicle will not be covered for repairs or replacement. The situation has reignited discussions about state institutions’ adherence to the Insurance Act 2021 (Act 1061), which mandates that every vehicle on the road must be insured.
Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo in 2018 explained the government’s reluctance to insure its vehicles: “As I speak, all government vehicles are not insured. As a policy, you don’t, because the frequency is such that the government is prepared to pay for insurance cover for people in an accident rather than insuring its vehicles. It’s a cost estimate.” He, however, urged the government to insure all its vehicles to boost the insurance sector.
Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, MP for South Dayi, 2022 criticized the government on this matter, stating, “If we have over 18,000 government vehicles and about 98 to 99 percent of them are not insured, that is the problem that the Public Accounts Committee has uncovered, and it’s such an indictment on our public governance structure.”
Further compounding the issue, Suweibatu Adam, Chief Director at the Attorney General’s Office, revealed in 2023 that 92 official vehicles used by the Attorney General’s Office and Ministry of Justice were not insured due to budget constraints. This was highlighted by a 2013 accident involving an uninsured vehicle of the Ministry, which led to a court ruling resulting in a GH¢266,399 judgment debt.
The Koforidua SECTECH bus accident underscores the urgent need for government institutions, particularly schools, to insure their vehicles to ensure the safety of students and staff and to protect state assets.
Source : Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
