The Majority and Minority Chief Whips in Parliament have jointly called on the government to end the exemption granted to state-owned vehicles from compulsory third-party motor insurance, arguing that victims of road accidents involving government vehicles deserve the same protection and access to compensation as victims of privately owned vehicles.
In a joint statement delivered on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Minority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh, together with Majority Chief Whip Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, urged the government to immediately insure its fleet of vehicles and make adequate financial provisions for the payment of insurance premiums in the 2027 national budget.
The two parliamentary leaders also called for amendments to the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act, 1958 (Act 42), to remove the existing exemption for government vehicles. They further urged the National Insurance Commission and the Attorney-General to be involved in the process of reviewing the legislation to ensure that state-owned vehicles are brought under the compulsory insurance framework.
Emphasising the need for equal responsibility, the Chief Whips declared: “A State that asks its citizens to insure must be willing to insure itself.” They questioned why private vehicle owners, commercial drivers, traders and tricycle operators were required by law to maintain valid insurance policies while government vehicles continued to enjoy an exemption.
They argued that road accident victims should not be denied compensation simply because the vehicle responsible for an accident belongs to the State. In a particularly poignant remark, they stated that “a child is no less an orphan because the vehicle was owned by the State”, stressing that families who lose loved ones in accidents involving government vehicles deserve the same protection and support as others.
To support their concerns, the Chief Whips referred to findings presented to Parliament in 2022 by the Public Accounts Committee, which reportedly indicated that between 98 and 99 per cent of more than 18,000 government vehicles were not insured.
They also cited a July 2024 road accident involving an uninsured GETFund school bus near Koforidua, claiming that victims of the incident did not receive insurance benefits because the vehicle lacked the required coverage.
The two leaders rejected the argument that government could simply assume responsibility for compensating victims through direct payments instead of purchasing insurance. They maintained that relying on government compensation without establishing a dedicated and protected fund could leave accident victims exposed to lengthy administrative and legal processes.
“Self-insurance without a ring-fenced fund is a promise on paper,” they cautioned, explaining that victims could be forced to petition ministries, pursue legal action against the Attorney-General and wait for budgetary allocations before receiving compensation.
According to them, compulsory insurance would provide victims with enforceable rights and create a more predictable system for managing compensation claims, rather than leaving affected families dependent on government discretion.
“Compensation becomes a right, not a favour,” the statement emphasised.
The Chief Whips further highlighted the country’s road safety challenges, citing National Road Safety Authority figures indicating that 2,949 people died in 14,743 road crashes in 2025, representing an 18.2 per cent increase in fatalities compared with 2024.
They also referred to a disclosure made by the Health Minister in July that the country’s national ambulance fleet was uninsured when he assumed office. The two parliamentary leaders commended the Minister for addressing the situation and urged the government to extend similar measures to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
As part of their proposed measures, they called for all government institutions to insure their vehicles immediately without waiting for Parliament to amend the existing law. They also demanded that every government vehicle be registered on the Motor Insurance Database to improve monitoring, compliance and accountability.
Additionally, they called for a comprehensive and publicly accessible audit of the government’s vehicle fleet, detailing the number of vehicles owned by the State and their respective insurance status. They insisted that the findings should be made available to the public to strengthen transparency and ensure that the necessary corrective measures are implemented.
The Chief Whips were careful to stress that their intervention was not intended as an attack on any particular administration, acknowledging that successive governments, including those they had served, had failed to address the exemption.
“This is not an indictment of one administration. Successive governments, including mine, left this exemption untouched. Fixing it should be a test we all pass,” they stated.
Following the presentation of the joint statement, the Speaker of Parliament charged the Attorney-General and the Minister for Finance to take action on the concerns raised.
