Ghana is said to be paying millions of dollars to international lawyers to undertake mediations between the country and business entities internationally.
By Staff reporter, in Accra, Ghana
Analysts said such funds could have been saved had the country engaged the services of local Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) professionals to handle these mediations. A Chief State Attorney and Director of Ligation Unit at the Attorney-General’s Department, William Kpobi, disclosed this at the closing ceremony of Professional Executive Master of ADR, organised by the Gamey and Gamey Academy of Mediation in Accra.
He argued: “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”. Mr. Kpobi noted that while Ghana seems 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.
The cases involving the Government of Ghana that have been sent for arbitration at the various arbitration institutions around the world have attracted much attention and in some cases spirited disagreements on their merits. According to him, it was on the basis of such concerns that the President for instance constituted the Justice Yaw Appau Commission to investigate judgment debts and make the necessary recommendations.
Mr. Kpobi, who was the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony, however, said it was obvious that Ghana was yet to be an attractive centre for the resolution of international commercial disputes. He emphasised: “We are aware that Act 798 provides for the establishment of a National ADR Centre. What is needed is the necessary leadership and partnership from institutions like Gamey and Gamey on how best to execute that mandate. “The successful practice and development of ADR in Ghana is hinged on the availability of trained practitioners.
It is in this vein that the Gamey and Gamey need to be congratulated to their consistency in training ADR practitioners for more than a decade”. In an address, the Chief Executive Officer of Gamey and Gamey Academy of Mediation, Austin Gamey, appealed to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department to consider establishing a specialised ADR Department with well trained professional ADR practitioners to help the State overcome the numerous judgement debts in the country.
He explained that when the specialised ADR department was established it would minimise judgement debt cases in the West African country. Mr. Gamey, who is also a renowned labour expert, stated that: “The need to establish the National ADR Centre is now urgent, and Gamey and Gamey stand ready to assist the AG’s Department to achieve this objective. The ADR Act 2010, Act 798 imposes on the Attorney General and Minister of Justice the responsibility to oversee its establishment”.
He observed: “It is now an acceptable fact that in Ghana the ADR approach to the resolution of conflicts is a workable option. Over the past few years we have all witnessed the use of ADR in the settlement of commercial cases, labour disputes, domestic misunderstandings, land, and chieftaincy conflicts among others”. In fact, Ghana is only following what is becoming a world-wide trend, Mr Gamey stated.
But the CEO advised; “if ADR is to become acceptable by those who seek redress for their disputes, it is imperative that the practitioners of ADR must be well-trained and behave as professionally as possible”. Gamey and Gamey Academy of Mediation – which is the training and development section of Gamey and Gamey Group Limited, Mr Gamey said was committed to the training of ADR professionals, and participation in the last 16 sessions of the ADR Executive Master programme had shown that they were playing a key role in this regard.
Participants in the programme include; lawyers, surveyors, human resource practitioners, chiefs, trade unionists, members of the security agencies ministers of religion and others from within and outside Ghana. To ensure that Gamey and Gamey are abreast with the latest best practices, the institute 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 USA.
