The Plenary of the House of Representatives has voted to summon heads of government ministries and agencies for their “noncompliant posture” in insuring their staff and equipment with the National Insurance Corporation of Liberia (NICOL). They are expected appear before that august body this week.
Plenary, the highest decision-making body of the House, took the decision following a request from four of its members, including Reps. Johnson N. Gwaikolo (District #9, Nimba County), Marvin Cole (District #3, Bong County), Dorwohn T. Gleekia (District #6, Nimba County), and P. Mike Jurry (District #1, Maryland County), calling for the heads of these agencies to appear and show reasons behind their actions.
“Honorable Speaker and Distinguished Colleagues, this letter is to invite Government Ministries, Agencies, State-Owned Enterprises, etc. to appear before Plenary to show cause why they are not complying with the NICOL Law,” the lawmakers requested in their joint communication to Plenary.
To lead by example, the lawmakers said the House of Representatives placed the insurance of the Central Administration staffers with NICOL in June 2022. In addition, the leadership of the House invited several ministries and agencies last year to inquire why they had not been complying with the law by placing their insurances with NICOL. Despite the House’s intervention, there has been no progress made on the part of those ministries and agencies in complying with the law, the lawmakers said.
The National Insurance Corporation of Liberia was established in 1984 by PRC Decree 81, and Section III gives the Corporation “the exclusive power to effect all insurances of the Government of Liberia, public corporations and any other business in which the Government of Liberia is 50% shareholder or more.”
The lawmakers said that, although it has been nearly five years since President George Weah appointed the institution’s head, they have noticed a complete lack of cooperation by these ministries and agencies. Instead of doing business with NICOL, these public entities chose to deal with private insurance companies, thus neglecting the government-owned entity.
Their research uncovered that there are presently about 14 registered insurance companies in the country, of which the majority of them are foreign-owned. “These companies are the ones lobbying for these government insurances from the various Government Ministries and Agencies and taking the proceeds to their respective countries while our state-owned insurance corporation is being neglected.”
However, despite the neglect, by these Ministries and Agencies, the lawmakers said they have seen a “great deal” of progress by the current management team of NICOL towards the resuscitation of the Corporation. In their request, they called for the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation, Central Bank of Liberia, and the Liberia Revenue Authority to be the first batch of public institutions to appear before Plenary, and their request was approved.
