ICC wants professionals trained as arbitrators

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Ghana has called on professionals such as engineers, pharmacists, to avail themselves for training in arbitration as part of measures to boost the number of such experts in the country.

The Secretary General of ICC Ghana, Mr Emmanuel Doni-Kwame, who made the call, said in many instances, Ghana had no representatives to sit on many cases of arbitration at the ICC because many Ghana professionals shy away from that area.

Speaking to the Graphic Business shortly after the closing of a three-day summit in Accra, he said the training was to help participants to be abreast of ICC’s rules of arbitration and the new developments at the ICC Court of Arbitration.

He said the training was required because Ghana’s participation in arbitration matters was low, adding that “we need a lot of professionals such as engineers and pharmacist with all the diverse expertise to be trained as arbitrators.

“This is necessary, so that at least once the court want arbitrators from our part of the world, Ghana would be able to provide them.”

Mr Doni-Kwame described this as a first step towards “our goal of making Ghana a place for arbitration so that at least we will handle our disputes here and not have to always fly to London to access that service”.

“Once we have expects here, we will be able to build the institution here and Ghana will be seen as a place for arbitration,” he stated.

Summit

The three-day training summit was organised by ICC Ghana, in collaboration with the ICC Court of Arbitration, to build the capacity of 40 lawyers from state-owned enterprises in Accra.

The capacity-building summit on International Commercial Arbitration sought, among other things, to provide participants with additional skills and knowledge in international arbitration to enable them have the opportunity to sit in arbitral tribunal and represent clients in international arbitration matters.

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Participants who benefitted from the training were from the Attorney General’s Department, Ministry of Justice and other state owned-enterprises, such as Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority, GOIL and Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Highlights

The training, which focused on an overview of arbitration as a method of dispute resolution, examined how the ICC International Court of Arbitration and its secretariat operate and how the ICC Rules of Arbitration are applied and to the ICC Arbitration process.

The Director of ICC Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Africa, Ms Diamana Diawara, explained that the issue of lack of arbitrators from Ghana was a concern.

To improve the situation, she said the obvious step was to build the capacity of legal practitioners, as well as raise awareness with the legal counsel businesses on the importance of involving or choosing arbitrators from African jurisdictions when looking for qualifications available on the Africa market, particularly in Ghana.

That, she said, would provide Ghanaians and African arbitration practitioners who had the requisite skills the opportunity to sit on arbitral tribunals.