By Abass Jalloh
The Deputy Commissioner of Insurance at the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM), Sheku Mattia has dismissed claims published by the print media that Sierra Leone has lost its membership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Brown Card.
Speaking at a press briefing hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Deputy Commissioner stated that “Sierra Leone is still a member of the ECOWAS Brown Card.”
Expressing dissatisfaction, Mattia said “some unscrupulous and ill-informed individuals are using media personalities to mislead the public against the good works of the government and the insurance industry.”
In his presentation, Mattia told journalists that the principle role of the commission is to “regulate, monitor and supervise” the insurance industry in Sierra Leone. “There are 12 insurance companies in Sierra Leone. We coordinate the insuring of government properties and assets including motor vehicles”, he stated.
The ECOWAS Brown Card, according to its mandate, was instituted through the ECOWAS to ensure prompt and fair compensation to victims of motor accidents caused by visiting motorists, using foreign-registered vehicles from other ECOWAS members States that are covered by a Brown Card Insurance.
The Deputy Commissioner added that the commission also handles the ECOWAS Brown Card and that the commission had noted with “great concern over the print media publications on negative headlines since the start of this year 2022.” “These publications have been given cause to launch series of investigations into the said issues and only to know that they are false, allegation, dumbfounded and sophisticated and far from the truth,”he countered.
Mattia stated that one of the publications (name withheld) was dated Tuesday 8th February 2022 of volume 3, No. 081, adding that there were other publications from different media houses. “The front-page headline read: ‘ECOWAS suspends Salone over 85,000,’ he stated, adding that the paper mentioned that Sierra Leone had been suspended for not paying its contribution of eighty-five thousand dollars ($85,000) to the council it owed.
“I want to state here categorically to the press that all the statements made are baseless, misguided, and the public should not treat it with seriousness, and it should be treated or regarded detraction,” he declared.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (11/02/22)
