A policy think tank, IMANI Africa, has published documents revealing a coordinated effort by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) to steer insurance business from state institutions toward SIC Insurance PLC and SIC Life Company Limited.

The documents, published by IMANI Africa as part of a new analysis titled The Insurance Question: Competition or Coordination?, centre on a December 11, 2025, letter from SIGA bearing reference number SIGA/SOE.SIC/1225.

The letter's subject line leaves little room for interpretation: "Directive to State-Owned Enterprises to Prioritise the Use of State-Owned Insurance Companies."

In the body of the letter, SIGA references an earlier communication sent to Chief Executive Officers of all SOEs and Specified Entities, which it says was directed at getting those institutions to prioritise SIC Insurance PLC and SIC Life for their insurance needs.

The December 11 letter was a follow-up, requesting compliance reports from SIC — including lists of SOEs already doing business with the company, premium volumes, and renewal status.

A second document shows the directive beginning to move through the system.

A December 23, 2025, letter from SIC Life Insurance Ltd to GIHOC Distilleries explicitly references guidance from the Ministry of Finance and SIGA, and requests to be "favourably considered" ahead of GIHOC's upcoming insurance renewal.

IMANI associate Kay Codjoe, who authored the analysis, argues the sequence is significant.

"In a purely competitive market, no insurer needs policy backing to compete," the analysis notes. "But when policy begins to travel with the proposal, the playing field changes."

SIGA's portfolio covers over 140 active state entities, including the Volta River Authority, Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana National Gas Company, and Cocoa Marketing Company — institutions whose insurance portfolios run into hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, of cedis in insured exposure.

IMANI's analysis also flags a structural conflict that makes the arrangement particularly sensitive. SIC Insurance PLC is a publicly listed company in which the government holds a minority stake of approximately one-third, with the remainder held by private and institutional investors.

The same state that oversees SOEs through SIGA and regulates the insurance market through the National Insurance Commission is, therefore, also a shareholder in the company now being positioned to receive that business.

The publication of the documents adds a new dimension to a controversy that has been building for weeks.

IMANI founder Franklin Cudjoe formally petitioned President Mahama on the issue last Tuesday, warning of "unseen political hands" raiding the insurance sector through administrative directives.

Industry veteran Sir Sam Jonah had previously described the pattern as "deeply troubling and dangerously systemic," and GLICO General Insurance has formally written to the Presidency raising concerns about market distortion.

The documents also put pressure on SIC Managing Director James Agyenim-Boateng, who told JoyNews last week that SIGA's communications amounted to encouragement, not a directive.

The December 11 letter, authored and signed by SIGA itself, uses the word "directive" in its subject heading and references compliance follow-up in its body.

Government communications minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu has said President Mahama will review the IMANI petition and take "appropriate action where required."