Insurance Regulatory Authority tips Nateete market vendors
Lubega highlighted the criticality of traders not embracing insurance, whether it's for health, education, agriculture or property.
IRA CEO Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega, the IRA CEO addressing traders in Nateete Market on Thursday, July 10. (Photos by Simon Okitela)
By Simon Okitela
Journalists @New Vision
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The Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda (IRA) has advised Nateete market vendors to embrace insurance as a safety net in unprecedented times like a fire outbreak and theft.
According to the regulator, traders have several times fallen victims of markets burning, losing their merchandise without any fallback despite investigations by authorities.
Speaking on Thursday while handing over skip bins to Nateete Market, IRA CEO Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega highlighted the criticality of traders not embracing insurance, whether it's for health, education, agriculture or property.
He explained that despite the recent growth registered by the insurance sector, there is still a need to enrol more micro-insurance amongst clients like traders who don’t earn monthly yet have some money to save.
“The importance of insurance to traders cannot be overemphasised. We have all heard of market fires, property loss and traders struggling to cope as they pay outstanding loans. What we are saying is, these traders must take up policies to protect them from unforeseen losses,” Kaddunabbi noted.
These observations were highlighted on the sidelines of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) event by IRA where they donated skip bins to KCCA for Nateete market with the goal of supporting KCCA’s agenda of sorting organic and inorganic garbage from markets.
“These skip bins will help our traders here to separate organic from inorganic. This supports KCCA’s efforts to align garbage collection in the city, and we are glad to have contributed to this cause.”
Dr. Sarah Zalwango, the KCCA’s Acting Director of Public Health and Environment, commended IRA for the noble gesture, which she said supports their call for traders to avoid mixing garbage.
She disclosed that plans are underway at KCCA to acquire similar skip bins across major markets in the central business district.
“Our goal as KCCA is to start recycling garbage, and we are sure we can attain this through support from partners like the IRA,” Dr. Zalwango noted.