Guarantee Fund targets Rwf 1bn in premiums

KIGALI - The Automobile Guarantee Fund (AGF), a fund that was established by government to compensate people injured or those whose property has been destroyed by unidentified or uninsured automobiles has set a target of Rwf1 billion in premiums by the end of next year.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Bernardin Ndashimye the General Director of Automobile Guarantee Fund explains how the fund works yesterday (Photo/ F. Goodman)

KIGALI - The Automobile Guarantee Fund (AGF), a fund that was established by government to compensate people injured or those whose property has been destroyed by unidentified or uninsured automobiles has set a target of Rwf1 billion in premiums by the end of next year.

This was revealed yesterday by the General Director of AGF; Bernardin Ndashimye during a town hall meeting that was telecast live on Rwanda television.

According to Ndashyimye, the fund plans to move from the present Rwf720 million to Rwf1billion by the end of next year to be able to reach more victims of such accidents and to also venture into infrastructure projects like road maintenance.

"We have a target of multiplying the money we have so that we can engage in developmental activities and be able to generate more funds to help as many victims as possible,” said Ndashimye.

"We also want to help maintain the roads because bad roads are the major cause of such accidents,” he said.

The fund which works under the Ministry of Finance gets its finances from insurance companies in the country which deposit 10 percent of the premiums paid by their clients into the fund.

The money is used to compensate victims of motor accidents in case the automobiles are not insured or go unidentified.  

Ndashimye says that the fund has been doing well in the country and yet in other countries like Uganda, it collapsed.

"Our main aim is to work towards quality services and help as many people as possible because there are numerous people out there who don’t know we exist.”

He added that the fund wants to work with hospitals and the police to save people’s lives by ensuring the quickest medical attention to victims.

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