Policy think tank IMANI Africa has raised the alarm over what it describes as a systematic takeover of Ghana’s insurance sector by “unseen political hands” hiding behind administrative directives to railroad legitimate contracts, warning that the growing pattern of interference threatens market confidence and national risk governance.

In a formal petition presented to President John Dramani Mahama during a civil society encounter at the Presidency, IMANI founder Franklin Cudjoe detailed troubling developments in the sector, where state insurance portfolios are increasingly being moved not through competitive tender or professional selection, but through political leverage and personal connections.

The petition, titled “Safeguarding Procurement Integrity, Market Confidence, and National Risk Governance in Ghana’s Insurance Sector,” comes on the heels of a stark warning from industry icon Sir Sam Jonah, who described the situation as deeply troubling and dangerously systemic.

“There is a growing and deeply troubling pattern of political and socio-economic interference in the conduct of insurance business in Ghana,” Sir Sam Jonah told key stakeholders three days ago.

“What was once an occasional disruption has… become something more systemic. More embedded. More dangerous.”

According to Sir Sam, contracts are increasingly being cancelled or reassigned based not on performance or merit, but on political directives.

Insurance portfolios of state entities, he revealed, are being moved through personal access rather than competitive processes.

Mr Cudjoe echoed these sentiments in his petition, calling for urgent presidential intervention to sanitise the sector of what he described as dodgy, collusive, and corrosive procurement practices.

“One such sector which has been raided by unseen political hands hiding behind administrative directives to railroad legitimate contracts and take over is the insurance sector,” Mr Cudjoe stated in his post on Facebook following the engagement.

In the petition, IMANI observed that across multiple insurance institutions, there have been shifts in renewal behaviour without clear evidence of competitive tendering, alongside reduced participation of non-SIC insurers in major state-linked placements.

The think tank also noted an increasing perception of predetermined outcomes in procurement processes, as well as formal petitions from market participants, including GLICO General Insurance, raising concerns about market distortion and regulatory neutrality.

Mr Cudjoe noted that these developments suggest policy encouragement may, in practice, be evolving into operational direction, a drift that he warned could have severe consequences for the integrity of Ghana’s insurance market.

He reminded the President that this was not the first time such concerns had emerged.

In 2014, the Ghana Insurers Association, through the National Insurance Commission, formally petitioned then-President Mahama over a similar issue regarding the allocation of state insurance business.

At the time, the President intervened decisively, reversing the directive and reaffirming that placements must be guided by merit, value for money, and competitive process.

“That the issue has resurfaced during your return to office underscores a deeper structural persistence, but also affirms that you have the credibility, precedent, and institutional memory to correct this drift decisively,” Mr Cudjoe wrote.

The IMANI founder is now urging the President to adopt a root and branch approach to cleansing the entire public sector of corrupt procurement practices, beginning with decisive action in the insurance sector to restore market confidence and ensure that state insurance business is allocated transparently and competitively.