Haja Afsatu Kabba yesterday delivered a paper on Risk Management and its effects on government and other agencies in an international Risk Management seminar in Freetown.
Addressing the gathering at Njala Venue which attracted representatives from Insurance Companies, Financial Institutions and government agencies, Haja Afsatu Kabba defined Risk Management as the identification, analysis, economic control of those risks that threatens the assets or saving capacity of an enterprise.
The former insurance executive added that risk can come from uncertainty in financial markets, project failures (at any phase in design, development, production, or sustainment life-cycles), legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attack from adversary, or events of uncertain or unpredictable root-cause.
The Chartered Insurer and Risk Management Consultant further stated that Risk Management is an important component of public sector governance, adding that government commits significant resources to improve services and infrastructure for the community.
She noted that Increasing demand on these services call for sound governance processes that enable the government to minimize risks to their delivery and optimize available resources.
Haja Afsatu Kabba maintained that Risk Management helps to reduce the chances of accident in the first place to enhance optimal use of scarce resources in other more important areas.
The Chartered Insurer recommended that government should develop a Risk Management Framework that will provide for a minimum risk management standard across public sector entities.
“The benefit of such a framework is that it will bring together information on governance policies, accountabilities, roles and responsibilities for all those involved in risk management”, she said.
The Risk Management Consultant reiterated that government’s first obligation is to protect its citizens, noting that a discipline like Risk Management which contributes towards the protection of the nation should be given support by government.
She furthered that government should create the enabling legislation with emphasis on risk avoidance or reduction, for example providing efficient fire fighting force.
Haja Afsatu Kabba averred that effective Risk Management will limit the potential loses and reduce claims paid by insurers. This in turn will reduce premium and reduce economic waste to the nation.
She stated that insurers can also help raise awareness by the introduction of appropriate code and policy condition on fire, workers health, safety laws, driving regulation and loss control measures. The Consultant pointed out that insurers can join forces with risk managers in organizing Risk Management awareness programmes.
In his presentation on Risk Management priorities for the African Insurance industry, Regional Manager Saddleback Re (USA) Mr. Kortor Francis Kamara said that as growth in African economies becomes increasingly sustainable, a concomitant shift in risk landscape is taking shape, resulting in an urgent need for robust risk management.
He added that the Insurance industry remains challenged by a lack of strategy, vision, capacity, and expertise in dealing with catastrophe risks confronting the continent.
Mr Kamara maintained that the African insurance industry has for decades sought to continue the status quo by servicing and catering to only a small segment, mostly large business enterprises in urban areas and the provision of the occasional compulsory insurances- such as motor insurance.
The seminar was organized by Saddleback Re (USA) in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM) and the Theme was The role of Risk Management and Insurance Solution Practice in African Socio- Economic and Developmental Challenges and Measures to pierce the low Insurance Penetration Rate in Sierra Leone. The keynote address was made by the SLICOM Commissioner Mr Augustus Kanu.
By Abibatu Kamara
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