The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is lining up digital reforms to strengthen its Yellow Card motor insurance scheme aimed at improving claims administration, curbing fraudulent certificates and making it easier for motorists to obtain cover when travelling across borders.
The ICT sub-committee of the Comesa Yellow Card scheme is meeting in Nairobi this week to discuss the next steps in the planned rollout of digital selling of the covers and mechanisms for sharing data to ease verification across borders.
The ComesaYellow Card, which was introduced in 1987, provides third-party motor liability insurance for motorists travelling across about 15 Comesa countries, allowing them to use a single certificate rather than obtain separate covers in each destination.
Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re), which is the national bureau responsible for implementing the scheme in Kenya, is in support of the proposed reforms, which it says will also strengthen real-time verification of certificates and link insurance databases across member countries, thereby improving the efficiency of cross-border motor insurance and supporting regional trade.
The backing comes ahead of the November 9 to 12, 2026 Kenya Re 3rd CEOs Summit in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which will provide a platform for insurance industry leaders to discuss how to drive sustainable and responsible profitability in agriculture, health and motor insurance across Africa. To register for the summit, please click here.
Head of information communication and technology at Kenya Re Samuel Ruugia said integration of national insurance systems, data integrity and visibility of policy issuance and premium payments were among the key challenges the Yellow Card scheme should seek to address.
“One of the key challenges we are trying to solve is integration. A Yellow Card covers a vehicle travelling through several countries. The card should be verifiable at every border post as the vehicle crosses from one country to another. This has been a challenge,” said Ruugia.
“The system should allow a Yellow Card issued in Nairobi to be verified seamlessly in another city, without the need for complicated processes. It should be verifiable on the go. That is the integration challenge we are working to address.”
Kenya Re head of ICT Samuel Ruugia addressing regional ICT and insurance experts during the 18th COMESA Yellow Card IT Sub-Committee meeting in Nairobi. October 13, 2026
For insurers, seamless verification is key to confirming the validity of certificates, reducing opportunities for fraud and improving visibility of the risks covered across borders. The scheme pools contributions from participating insurers to facilitate claims arising from accidents involving visiting motorists.
Mr Ruugia said Kenya Re, as Kenya’s national bureau, sells Yellow Card booklets to insurance companies, oversees the implementation of regional technology initiatives in the local market and trains insurers, transporters and police officers on the proper use and verification of the certificates.
Calvin Mishkawalyele, chief executive of the Council of Bureaux Secretariat, which administers the Yellow Card scheme, said the programme had already moved from manual certificates to digital issuance across all 13 member countries.
The next phase involves expanding electronic verification, introducing online purchases and integrating the Yellow Card system with national insurance databases.
The scheme introduced USSD-based verification in 2025, allowing law enforcement officers to confirm whether a certificate is valid using a basic mobile phone without internet connectivity. The service is operational in eight member countries, with plans to expand to others, according to Mr Mishkawalyele.
CEO of the COMESA Yellow Card Scheme Calven Mutyavaviri addressing regional ICT and insurance experts during the 18th COMESA Yellow Card IT Sub-Committee meeting in Nairobi. October 13, 2026
Officers can enter a vehicle registration number or Yellow Card certificate number to establish the validity of the cover. The system is intended to reduce the risk of fraudulent certificates being used at border posts. Mr Mishkawalyele said verification had helped expose a syndicate issuing fraudulent Yellow Cards in one member country.
The online sales phase is being piloted in Zambia this year. If successful, the model will be rolled out to other participating countries, allowing motorists to obtain cover without physically visiting an insurance company.
The scheme is also pursuing deeper integration with national insurance databases in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia for a start, with a longer-term ambition to support payments through banking and mobile money platforms across all the participating countries.
Mr Mishkawalyele said the integration and payment initiatives were targeted for implementation in 2027.
Ruugia agreed the changes will make the scheme more convenient for motorists while giving insurers better access to information on certificates issued, premiums paid and exposure across participating markets.
He stressed that accurate data was essential to reliable verification, warning that poor data integrity could undermine the entire process. Better visibility of issuance and premium payments would also help the scheme track business across its network.
In his opening remarks to the ICT subcommittee, he said interoperability would require common data standards, interfaces and service levels between national systems. He cautioned that connecting insurance systems across jurisdictions would require safeguards for personal and commercial data, given differences in national data protection laws.
The Yellow Card scheme has recorded annual growth in the number of certificates issued since 2018, averaging more than 10 percent, according to Mr Mishkawawalyele. More than 340,000 cards were issued in 2025, generating about $27 million in premiums.
The scheme is also expanding beyond its formal membership through business-to-business arrangements that facilitate the issuance of Yellow Cards from South Africa, Namibia, South Sudan and Mozambique for travel into the Comesa region.
The longer-term ambition is to extend the scheme across the wider tripartite region, including the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community.
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