By Pius Rugonzibwa
Mwanza — INSURANCE firms and practitioners in the country have been challenged to get prepared for stiff competition in marketing their skills and products ahead of the coming East African Common Market.
The Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Israel Kamuzora, said the insurance sector is not spared when the new market takes off in the coming two to three years, urging Tanzanians to be fully prepared to compete with other players in the region.
Mr Kamuzora was officiating at the first graduation ceremony of students who qualified for the Certificate of Proficiency in Insurance (COP) at the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) Mwanza Campus on Thursday.
"The high competition ahead of the establishment of the EAC Common Market is real and one way of getting prepared for this competition is through acquiring and up-scaling skills and capabilities through training and continued professional development programs," he said.
As all players including Insurance agents and brokers will be required to undergo the COP program to be allowed to practice, Mr Kamuzora also said insurance syllabuses will have to be harmonis ed to meet regional standards.
He cautioned dishonesty and lack of professionalism among some insurance companies in the country who used to cheat by backdating insurance covers among other malpractices, saying their days are numbered.
The commissioner took the opportunity to remind the players on the coming revolutions in the industry, including the National Insurance Policy whose draft was now at the Treasury for final review.
Another development was on Islamic Insurance Practice popular as Takaful, whose draft regulations are currently being finalised by experts as well as the Micro-Insurance Practice whose players will have to pay reasonable amount as a starting capital before they operate.
"Players in this kind of practice will be required to pay only 500,000/- as a starting capital to be able to engage in the business and the National Micro-Insurance Strategy towards this course is underway," he said.
Another product in the offing, according to him, was the establishment of the Office of the Insurance Ombudsman which expects to be operational starting next week.
The office will have a mandate to adjudicate insurance disputes and make rulings without parties' concerned going through the usual court system and it was hoped that the system will help restore public confidence on insurance services.
On his side, the IFM Lecturer, Prof Godwin Mjema, said the start of the COP programme at Mwanza centre was a challenge for the institute to expand such programmes to other regions including Zanzibar.
He made an assurance and commitment that IFM was ready to spearhead national agenda on the country's preparedness ahead of joining common markets within EAC, SADC and other international bodies by providing quality programmes.
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