Rwanda: When Disaster Strikes, Is the Business Insured?

On 10 October, fire tore through GOICO Plaza in Musanze, where about 2,000 traders did business. The Northern Province governor's preliminary estimate puts the value of the goods destroyed at more than Rwf30 billion. The building, valued at Rwf17 billion, was reportedly insured. How many of the traders inside were insured? Nobody can yet say. That silence is the story.

Rwanda's insurance penetration stands at 1.9 per cent of GDP, and the National Insurance Strategy aims to lift it to 5 per cent by 2035. It also seeks to raise the share of Rwandans holding cover from 27 per cent to 45 per cent. These are national targets. In Musanze, the reality looks like a trader left with an empty shelf and a bank loan.

The response so far has been quick and sincere. Authorities have secured 635 premises and promised to examine taxes and outstanding loans. Insurers have pledged faster claims processing. Yet, in the statements I have seen, insurance appears as a footnote for those already covered. It should be at the centre of recovery. Insurance is the one mechanism built to return a trader to where they stood before the fire, and it works only if claims are filed now.

So, my call is direct: every Rwandan business that holds stock, equipment or premises should be insured--and before the next fire, not after it. Going uninsured is not a strategy; it is hope. A healthy market depends on traders who can absorb a shock, repay suppliers and lenders, and reopen. I learnt this the hard way.

I speak as a publisher whose stock is paper. Books sit in storerooms for years. They are among the most flammable items a business can hold and are one leaking roof away from becoming worthless. So, I ask the question every business owner holding stock should ask: does my policy actually cover this?

The honest answer is that it depends on the package, and the differences can be wide. Fire cover is the foundation; rain is where the gaps open. Some Rwandan property contracts list storm, flood and internal water damage among the insured perils. But such cover typically responds to sudden events, not to a roof that has leaked for months, and policies commonly exclude damage caused by poor maintenance. Damp ruins books slowly, through swelling and mould that appear weeks later. That is exactly the kind of loss a policy may not cover.

Conditions matter too. At least one Kigali insurer's property contract requires working fire extinguishers and complete stock records kept in a fireproof safe. Fail to meet those conditions, and a claim can fail. The sum insured must also reflect what it costs to reprint the books, not what they sell for on a shelf.

My opinion is firm: insurers should offer a stock package designed for paper-based inventory, with water and humidity risks named plainly. Every trader should ask in writing: if rain comes through my roof, do you pay? A policy that cannot answer that question in one sentence has not been explained.

Rwandan law backs this. Law No. 30/2021 requires insurance contracts to state clear terms, including the property insured, the risks covered and the exclusions. It sets timelines too: written reasons must be provided within ten working days for a rejected or partly admitted claim, and payment must be made within one month once an admitted claim's requirements are met. These are rights, and a right you do not know about is a right you cannot use.

For Musanze, three steps cannot wait. The Private Sector Federation, insurers and authorities should publish how many affected traders hold cover. They should open a claims help desk because insurers will want stock records and a police report. Recovery planning must also include the uninsured, who face the same loans with no compensation.

Responsibility is shared. Insurers must explain, in plain language and in Kinyarwanda, what a policy does and does not cover. Leases should state who insures tenants' stock. Banks financing inventory should ask whether it is insured.

The lesson of GOICO Plaza is simple: insure your business and read what you have insured. Insist that the policy delivers what it promises. Rwanda cannot prevent every fire, but we can decide that the next one finds traders protected by cover they understand.

Read the original article on New Times.