Kenyans urged to buy insurance covers
BERNARDINE MUTANU -MYGOV
Kenyans have been urged to buy in surance policy covers to mitigate the effects of unforeseen risks even as insurance penetration remains low in the country.
Kenya ranks fourth in Africa after South Africa, Namibia and Morocco in insurance penetra tion, and the 42nd in the world, with a rate of only 2.4 per cent.
“We want to encour age people to buy insur ance policies. You can also invest although in this you can get profits and losses. But if you are buying a risk, then you will most likely get the protection you want,” said Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of Insurance Mr. Godfrey K. Kiptum.
He was speaking during a business journalists’ forum in Naivasha where he called for a partnership between the media and IRA to create insurance awareness and encourage uptake.
Although the industry is growing in assets according to IRA from Sh1.06 trillion in Quarter 4 of 2023 to Sh1.24 trillion in Quarter 4 in 2024, the number of people taking up insurance policies remains low.
“There is a time we had a penetration rate of 3.5 per cent but this came down and in 2012 because new sectors like ICT were introduced,” he said.
The CEO, however, decried increasing cases of fraud involving professionals including lawyers, doctors and even police officers.
As such, IRA is conducting a swoop to stop the vice which, Mr Kiptum said, is rampant in some regions like Machakos and Malindi. “Fraud has been a big problem in our sector, and especially fraud of public service vehicle (PSV) insurance.
We have places in this coun try that are hotspots, Machakos and Malindi are leading. We also have cartels led by very senior people in the legal profession.
They used to be along Juja Road, but they moved. But our team, and the Fraud Investigations Unit, is investigating cases in the Eastern part of Kenya,” he said.
According to the Fraud Investigations Unit, cases of scams have been reported in false injury claims, funeral, death and medical claims, theft by agents, impersonation, double registration, motor vehicle theft claims and fraud committed by advocates and auctioneers.
Others include for gery, altering docu ments and making false documents and faking motor vehicle insurance certificates. In 2024, there were 185 fraud cases which were reported to FIU, 82 cases were pending under investigation, 25 pending before court, 30 cases pending arrest with accused known, while 10 cases of fraud were finalized.
Upto June 1st, 2025, 68 cases were reported, 41 pending under investi gation, 12 pending before court, 4 cases pending arrest with accused known, while 11cases of fraud had been finalized.