AG urged to create department for ADR

Mr Austin Gamey, Chief Executive Officer of Gamey and Gamey Academy of Mediation, has urged the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General to create explicit Alternative Dispute Resolution Department aimed at forestalling huge judgement debt payments.

“It is my humble request that her office will consider establishing a specialised Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Department with well trained professional practitioners to help the state overcome the numerous judgement debts, which can be minimised if such a department were established,” he said.

Mr Gamey made the appeal at the closing ceremony of the 16th batch of Professional Master of ADR at the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity in Accra over the weekend.

He said there was the need for the Attorney-General (AG) to ponder over setting up a National ADR Centre as a matter of urgency, pledging the academy’s preparedness to assist the AG’s Department to achieve the feat.

The ADR Act 2010, Act 798, imposes on the Attorney General and Minister of Justice the responsibility to oversee the establishment of National ADR Centre.

Participants in the Academy’s programmes had included lawyers, surveyors, human resource practitioners, chiefs, trade unionists, members of the security agencies, ministers of religion and others from within and outside Ghana.

Gamey and Gamey Academy of Mediation is affiliated with the two best ADR Institutes in the world, namely PULSE Institute based in Canada and the Mediation Training Institute based in the United States of America.

The Academy runs courses such as Concept and Practice in Professional Conflict Resolution, Effective Interest-based Negotiation, Self-Mediation, and Managerial/Leadership Mediation.

Mr Gamey said: “We have also expanded the Arbitration Course to cover domestic and international disputes. We have also increased the role-play sessions”.

Mr William Kpobi, Chief State Attorney and Director of the Litigation Unit at the Attorney General’s Department, said the practice of ADR in contemporary times had taken a serious dimension.

“We are constantly interested in making it as relevant in our justice system as possible,” he said.

He said while Ghana seemed to have some relative control over the resolution of dispute within the social circles, disputes of commercial nature, especially international commercial disputes, have dominated much of the news with respect to the use of ADR.

He said cases involving the Government of Ghana that had been sent for arbitration at the various arbitration institutions around the world had attracted much attention and in some cases spirited disagreements on their merits.

“It is on the basis of such concerns that President John Dramani Mahama, for instance, constituted the Justice Yaw Appau Commission to investigate judgment debts and make the necessary recommendations,” he added.

He said it was becoming obvious that Ghana is yet to be an attractive centre for the resolution of international commercial disputes.

He said the ministry was aware that Act 798 provided for the establishment of a National ADR Centre but what was needed was the necessary leadership and partnership from institutions like Gamey and Gamey on how best to execute that mandate.

He said the successful practice and development of ADR in Ghana was hinged on the availability of trained practitioners.

He urged practitioners to specialise in various fields of ADR such as Land, Intellectual Property, Environment and International Commercial Disputes.

He said the AG’s department was committed to the speedy resolution of disputes in particular through the use of consensual and conciliatory mechanisms.

“There is also the call to use ADR mechanisms in resolving non-aggravated criminal offences,” he said.

He pledged the Attorney General’s Department readiness to partner with relevant stakeholders to mainstream ADR within the justice delivery system and to promote its practice and use within Ghana.

The development of ADR was based on important principles such as developing non-state justice systems, developing informal justice systems, enhancing legal pluralism and improving access to justice for the indigent.

With increasing trade and partnerships between and among parties in business and across wide geographical locations, ADR has also come to be associated with providing avenues for the speedy resolution of business and other commercial disputes.

Ghana has made efforts in creating avenues within the justice delivery system and mechanisms that address some of the principles underpinning ADR.

Before the passage of the ADR Act, 2010 (Act 798), Ghana had the Legal Aid Scheme and the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice.