President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioners in Ghana to strive towards ensuring that Ghana becomes the regional hub of settling disputes via ADR.
The President is expecting Ghana’s neighbours to make the country their safe haven for the resolution of disputes, following the establishment of an ADR centre, fourteen years after the promulgation of the ADR Act 798.
This he added, “shall propel Ghana to be an arbitration hub in Africa, particularly in West Africa.”
President Akufo-Addo said this when he, pursuant to section 1181 of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act 2010, (Act 789), inaugurated the Governing Board of the Alternative Resolution Centre into office at the Jubilee House in Accra Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Chaired by the respected retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Victor Jones Mawulom Dotse, who was nominated by the President alongside Efua Ghartey, membership also includes Francis Kofi Korankye-Sakyi, from the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Michael Gyang Owusu, from the Ghana Bar Association, Surv. Jose Nicco-Annan, from the Ghana Institute of Surveyors, Her Ladyship Angelina Mensah-Homiah, from the Judiciary, Joyce Adu, of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Philomena Aba Sampson, a representative from Organised labour.
President Akufo-Addo, noted that, ADR mechanisms such as mediation, arbitration and negotiation provide parties with the opportunity to resolve their disputes, amicably preserving relationships and fostering a culture of dialogue and understanding. These methods have proven to be effective in several jurisdictions around the world. And I am confident they will yield similar benefits here in Ghana.
Describing it as a new chapter in civil litigation in Ghana, the President alluded to the several times and occasions when and where, the Ghana Bar Association, the Ghana Investment Promotion Center and the Private Enterprise Federation have all called for the introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, particularly arbitration to alleviate the congestion in the courts and to enhance expertise and specialization in certain areas of the law especially commercial law, investment law, energy law and natural resources law.
He commended the current Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, and the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, for their diligence in bringing the center into being.
Chief Justice calls on public to embrace ADR as part of Ghana’s adjudication system
