Protection of general insurance policyholder under the law in Tanzania: Case Study of Motor and Marine Insurance

This work examines the protection of a general insurance policyholder under the law in Tanzania, motor and marine classes of insurance being instances of case study. The study involved library and field research, which was comprised of structured and unstructured interviews.The analysis shows that the Insurance Act and its regulations as well as other relevant statutes contain provisions for protection of policyholders. However, insurance cases instituted in courts consume much time and money, thus the judiciary does not offer adequate protection to policyholders. Although TIRA offers adequate protection to policyholders, such protection is limited in terms of its powers. Many policyholders are ignorant of general insurance principles and of their rights and there is laxity in the insurance legal framework which fails to strike a balance between interests of policyholders, third parties and insurers. In conclusion, the study shows that in spite of the protection afforded by the Insurance Act, there is no adequate and effective protection to the policyholder because the Act is not fully implemented. The study recommends that TIRA needs to be empowered to enable it to offer adequate and effective protection to policyholders and the Insurance Act and other pieces of legislation need to be amended. In addition, the Insurance Act should be fully implemented.