Insurers urged to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution

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Insurance Industry players have been urged to increasingly embed alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (ADR) in complaint handling to save time, costs, and reduce case backlog in courts.

The call was made by Justice Ocaya Thomas, Judge of the High Court of Uganda, Commercial Division, during the 66th CEO’s Breakfast meeting last week held at the Kampala Serena Hotel.

He explained that ADRs provide a cheaper and faster way to resolve disputes compared to traditional litigation and also reduce the burden on the court system. The meeting was organised under the theme: “Common Insurance Disputes received in Commercial Court, Trends, Causes and Lessons for the Sector players.”

“I want to urge you to drop egos and embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution to solve the rampant insurance complaints rather than wait to drag it into the Commercial Court. As of September 30, 2025, the Commercial Division of the High Court had a case backlog of 2,110, from the 1,878 that were filled at the time. We need alternatives,” Justice Ocaya noted.

He explained that to date, the commercial court has 27 cases with a total value of sh9.8b that are insurance-related. The total value of the entire case backlog at the court is sh3.6tn.

“I want to commend the IRA for the Complaints Bureau and the Insurance Appeals Tribunal (IAT); their involvement in resolving insurance-related disputes has played a big role in reducing insurance-related cases filed.”

The IRA established a complaints Bureau to receive and resolve insurance-related complaints from the public. In the first half of 2025, the Bureau received 168 complaints, out of which 150 complaints were successfully resolved, reflecting a resolution rate of 89%.

The IAT indicated in September this year that it had received 51 appeals since its establishment in 2022, and had concluded and made decisions on 41 cases, and 10 cases were at various stages of hearing.

Causes of insurance disputes

According to Justice Ocaya, the main causes of insurance-related disputes were ambiguous policies, errors in claim assessment, especially undue denial of claims, allegations of policy non-compliance and exclusion clauses, disagreements over the total amount of the claim and delays in claim management.

Others identified were failure to comply with the dispute resolution process, incomplete or inconsistent documentation, failure to comply with claims procedure, and lack of diligence in prosecuting suits leading to delays, objections or dismissals.

He thus advised industry players to use clear policy language to ensure clarity and reduce legal disputes, and to clearly define exclusion clauses. The other is ensuring policyholders have full disclosure of the required information and policy inception and renewal to uphold transparency and compliance.

The IRA chief executive officer, Alhaj Dr Kaddunabbi Ibrahim Lubega, advised insurers to ensure at all times to resolve any disagreements with policyholders so that they do not escalate to the Complaints Bureau or AIT.

“We should not have any complaints at all; the reason people buy insurance is to insure themselves against risks. When they occur, then they should be compensated,” he said.