An investigation of matatu insurance industry in Kenya : the case of Nairobi based insurance companies

Abstract

The researcher carried out an investigation of Matatu insurance industry in Kenya United Insurance Company that insured thousands of public service vehicles had collapsed and had been placed under statutory management by the commissioner of insurance. Since then other major Matatu insurers had collapsed. These were Access Insurance, Stallion Insurance and Lake Star Insurance. The collapse of more Matatu insurers could spell doom to Kenya's public transport and the economy in general as most people depend of Matatus for commuting to work and in carrying out other economic activities like farming among others. The general objective was to find out the major challenges facing Matatu Insurance in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to find out the major considerations by the insurance companies when determining the premiums payable to them by the Matatus, to find out the common passenger capacity of Matatus insured by the companies, to find out whether insurance companies have risk management policies for the Matatus they cover, and to find out the main types of risk management policies offered by insurance companies to Matatus. This study was conducted following the descriptive method. A census was conducted on the Nairobi based Matatu insurance companies. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data was collected using two main methods, the questionnaires and the interviews administered on managers of these insurance companies. Secondary data was collected from journals and magazines from the Association of Kenya Insurers, The commissioner for insurance and the insurance companies themselves and other bodies. Data was analysed using the descriptive statistics including the frequency tables. During data analysis the main tool used by the researcher was SPSS.The findings were then displayed in bar graphs and pie charts for better presentation.