High Court suspends 50pc rise in motor insurance

NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 12-The high court has suspended the 50 percent increase in insurance premiums and insurance companies’ proposed exclusion of certain categories of motor vehicles from their comprehensive Cover.

This follows a petition by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) last week, where the lobby group accused the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) of failing to protect the public and policyholders from such an increase.

his ruling, Justice James Makau stated that the orders will be in effect until the hearing and determination of the petition by the human rights body.

“The court also held that our petition can proceed, the matter is due for mention on April 14 2022. All respondents have been issued with 21 days to file & serve their responses to the petition,” said KHRC in a tweet on their official page.

KHRC argued that the planned increase of premiums was illegal because there was no public participation.

Insurance companies beginning of this month effected a directive by the industry regulator, IRA increasing insurance cover by up to 50 percent.

The providers had also indicated that they will no longer offer comprehensive cover for cars aged more than 12 years or those with a value of Kshs 600,000 and below.

The Wednesday ruling is a big win for motorists who are also decrying high fuel costs.