Tanzania’s insurance ombudsman sworn-in

THE Chief Justice, Mr Mohamed Chande Othman, swore-in former judge, Vincent Damian Lyimo, as the Insurance Ombudsman, whose responsibilities include resolving disputes between insurance firms and consumers.

Mr Lyimo was appointed to the position for a five-year term by the Minister for Finance, Ms Saada Mkuya Salum, with effect from September 24, this year, the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) said in a statement.

“The Insurance Ombudsman Service is a facility within the insurance industry established for the purpose of resolving disputes arising between consumers and the companies.

“It is also the cheapest remedy available to insurance consumers for redressal of their grievances against an insurance company,” the Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Israel Kamuzora, explained shortly after a brief swearing-in ceremony at the chief justice’s office in Dar es Salaam.

This is the first time for the Insurance Ombudsman Service to be established in the country. Tanzania’s insurance was under state monopoly since 1967, with only two operators - the National Insurance Company (NIC) in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar Insurance Company (ZIC) in the Isles.

Tanzania’s Insurance Industry was liberalised in 1996 with the objective of making it a sound and competitive agent for national saving mobilisation and development of investment channelling.

Over the last 18 years the insurance industry has witnessed robust growth with 30 insurance companies operating in the country.

There are also about 80 insurance brokerage firms and over 400 agencies and loss adjusters. Mr Kamuzora said the Ombudsman would, among other things, be considering and resolving complaints through mediation, conciliation and determination.

The nature of complaints to be handled by the Ombudsman are those relating to partial or total repudiation of claims by an insurer.

The Ombudsman would also deal with disputes in regard to premium paid or payable in terms of the policy as well as those relating to legal construction of the policies in so far as such dispute relate to the claims.

Mr Kamuzora noted that the office of the Insurance Ombudsman is located on the 4th floor of PPF Towers on the junction of Ohio and Garden streets in Dar es Salaam.

The office will be officially open to the public from February 1, 2015. Mr Lyimo is a retired High Court judge.

He had earlier worked with UN-MICT as Prosecutor’s Monitor for some of the genocide cases referred by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for trial by the High Court in Kigali, Rwanda.

He had also served as a state attorney and legal officer with the Insurance Supervisory Department.

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