Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) continued its campaigns in Kakamega County, western Kenya, by urging residents to embrace the culture of insurance.

The regulator that has invested a lot of time and money in workshops to create awareness of value of insurance cover, is putting emphasis on the need for the public to take seriously the training and ensure that the information trickles down to grassroots.

Kenya is ranked fourth in Africa for investment in insurance with IRA working around the clock to steer it to the top through ongoing awareness campaign and education.

IRA Director Joel Chemiron said in his speech on the fourth day of the regulators Bima Mashinani workshops that the training programme is meant to empower and upgrade consumers to make sound decisions when choosing insurance policies and covers for themselves, properties and businesses.

The training targets different groups that include the national government administration officers (NGAO), Kenya National Union of Teachers  (KNUT), Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), Kenya National of Commerce and Chambers Industry (KNCCI), Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWD), farmers, youth and women.

“The countrywide exercise dubbed Bima Mashinani is one of the many workshops the regulator is carrying out, and to ensure that such successful workshops are professionally done, we have injected over Ksh500 million to cater for the trainings so we can improve awareness of insurance to our clientele and enable them to learn and understand better who we are and what we offer and in return pass the same information to their friends and families across the board of the need to have insurance policy,” Prof Chemiron explained.

The director said insurance education and training under Bima Mashinani initiative was part of their mandate as stipulated in Cap 4 (87) of the constitution, where IRA is in charge of supervising and promoting insurance investments in Kenya.

“Already we have had such successful trainings in 21 out of the targeted 47 counties in the country with very impactful response and we hope by the time we leave Kakamega we will have resonated well with the various stakeholders on insurance policy management as they are our ambassadors to see the information trickling down to the grassroots consumers.

“Insurance is a subject that needs to be understood by all Kenyans as it one of those key economic drivers the country depends on,” he pointed out.

He insisted that good penetration of the Bima Mashinani is key to enabling consumers to understand how to go about the policies, and have a vast knowledge of which insurance policy befits them.

Chemiron observed that the target groups were essential in disseminating the information to the masses, hence the need to upgrade their knowledge on insurance policies.

“It is my wish that the various stakeholders conglomerating here will benefit from this insurance knowledge being taught here and will go a long way in assisting them and their relatives to make very wise decisions on insurance policies and covers.”

At the same time the director called on the 61 insurance companies in the country to give Kenyans the services they require, noting that (IRA) was committed to its oversight mandate.

He also reminded the public to make good use of the IRA scholarship programmes as well as job opportunities being advertised for their consumption.

In response the KNUT, KUPPET and KNCCI officials pledges to continue partnering and supporting the regulator’s initiatives of bringing the insurance policies closer to ordinary people promising to spread the insurance gospel even further to the locals.

• A Tell Media report / By Isaiah Wakhungu Andanje