Gambia host WAICA educational confab in November

Participants at a weeklong (August 26-29, 2013) WAICA-Re international training course on “advance marine andaviation insurance” for insurers from  West Africa (Photo provided by Lamin Jahateh)

The Gambia will host an educational conference of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) in November, an insurance association in the country has said.

It is The Gambia’s turn to host the next WAICA Educational Conference in November this year, the Insurance Association of The Gambia, IAG, announced at its 26thgeneral assembly on February 8. 

“I hereby urge all our CEOs (chief executive officers) to allow their staff selected to participate in the organisation of this event,” Henry Jawo, IAG’s outgoing Secretary General said.

WAICA was founded in 1973 by insurance institutions in the five English speaking West African countries of The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria – with its headquarters in Accra.

Its educational conference of the umbrella body for insurance and reinsurance companies in the sub-region, tackles pertinent issues that seeks to address challenges and spur growth of the industry in West Africa.

L-R: Fatai K Lawal, Dawda Sarge & WAICA SG William B. Coker

In April 2012, the IAG played host to the 34th yearly general meeting and educational conference of WAICA on the theme “Professional and Ethical Behaviour in the Insurance Industry.”

That conference discussed professionalism and ethical practices in the industry needed to build public trust.

The insurers said they believe the industry has been tainted by unprofessional and unethical insurance institutions and individual practitioners, thus bringing about growing public mistrust and as well slow growth and development of the industry in the sub-region.

 “The consequences of bad business practices could very well jeopardize the collective efforts to sustain economic growth, employment creation and poverty alleviation,” warns Dawda Sarge, IAG president and WAICA vice president at the time.

He admitted that the insurance industry continues to be challenged with issues relating to public confidences and trust. Therefore, one way to reassure society is to prove that an insurance contract “is not about buying wind but creating energy.”  

Written by Modou S. Joof

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