{
  "id": 18151030,
  "title": "Protecting lives and public assets through government vehicle insurance",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/protecting-lives-and-public-assets-through-government-vehicle",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-04T16:43:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/protecting-lives-and-public-assets-through-government-vehicle-insurance/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Honourable Speaker requested to speak on the exemption of government vehicles from compulsory third-party insurance. The speaker emphasizes that a family's grief does not depend on the vehicle's number plate. The government vehicle exemption dates back to the 1958 Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act. The Act mandates third-party insurance for all vehicles, but the government is exempt from this rule. In 2025, 2,949 Ghanaians died in road crashes, a 18.2% increase from 2024. The NRSA estimates that crashes cost the nation over $230 million annually. The state's vehicles are not protected from crashes. In 2018, a Senior Minister stated that government vehicles were not insured to pay compensation. In 2022, the Public Accounts Committee found that over 18,000 government vehicles were uninsured. In July 2024, a GETFund school bus involved in a crash without insurance. The Minister for Health announced that the entire national ambulance fleet was uninsured. The speaker argues that self-insurance without a ring-fenced fund is not a safeguard. Insurance provides compensation as a right, not a favour. The speaker urges the government to bring amendments to the Act, direct ministries to insure their fleets, and provide for the premiums in the 2027 Budget.",
  "summary": "Honourable Speaker, I rise to speak on a matter of life, justice and public trust: the continued exemption of government vehicles from compulsory third-party insurance.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}