The president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), Stephen Kwarteng Yeboah, has issued a stark warning: Ghana’s insurance industry is now so deeply politicised that your political colour may decide whether you survive or sink.
Speaking on PM Express on Joy News, Yeboah said the sector has reached a dangerous point where doing business increasingly depends on wearing either a “blue hat” or a “green hat” — a clear reference to the colours of the two main political parties.
“Hitherto, we didn’t use to have this level of polarisation,” he said, “but it’s crept into the insurance industry too. Now you need to have either a blue or green hat to be able to do insurance business in Ghana, and that’s not healthy.”
His comments come after veteran businessman Sir Sam Jonah raised the alarm at IBAG’s annual conference in Accra on March 26. Jonah described the situation as “deeply corrosive,” blaming heavy political interference and unethical practices that are threatening the entire sector’s integrity.
Yeboah confirmed that the concerns raised at the conference are very real. He explained that the topic given to Sir Sam Jonah was how to build resilience in Ghana’s highly polarised sociopolitical environment — and the veteran industrialist did not hold back.
The IBAG president noted that even seasoned players in the industry were surprised by how much insight Jonah showed, especially since he himself once owned an insurance company.
Yeboah said the problem is particularly severe in the brokerage side of the business.
“As I tell you, we are even talking about this directive from SIGA to the insurance industry — when you come to the broker sector, it’s worse.
It is absolutely terrible,” he added.He stressed that political interference is no longer just occasional — it has become a daily reality that is slowly eroding professionalism and trust in the industry.
For many in the insurance world, the message is clear: merit and competence are being pushed aside in favour of political connections. The fear is that if this trend continues unchecked, it will damage not only individual businesses but the long-term stability and reputation of the entire sector.
Yeboah’s blunt assessment has sparked fresh debate about how far politics should be allowed to reach into what should be a strictly professional industry. For now, the warning from the brokers’ leader is simple — in Ghana’s insurance business today, colour-coded loyalty may matter more than competence.