A 10-Member Governing Board of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre has been sworn into office to provide alternative means of resolving disputes in the country.
The committee is chaired by Kwesi Austin.
The other members include Jose Nicco-Annan, Efua Ghartey, Edinam Ama Abusah, Kenneth Koomson, and Dr Zakaria Sulemana.
The rest are Austin Gamey, Justice Angelina Mensah-Homiah, James Asiedu Kainyiah and Dr Francis Kofi Korankye-Sakyi, who is the Executive Secretary of the centre.
They were sworn in by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, at a ceremony at the Law House in Accra last Wednesday.
Functions
Dr Srem-Sai said the functions of the board included facilitating ADR processes, certifying arbitrators and decentralising the centre to regional and district levels.
He said the centre was not intended to operate only from Accra, and that the board was required to extend its operations to the regions and districts.
Dr Srem-Sai said the ADR Act, 2010 (Act 798) provided a legal framework for resolving disputes outside the traditional court process through arbitration, mediation and customary arbitration.
He said the Act also established the ADR Centre to facilitate alternative dispute resolution processes in the country.
“The bottom line is that it is also a legal way of resolving disputes, but it is outside of the court rules,” Dr Srem-Sai added.
Collaboration
The Deputy A-G further urged the board to work closely with traditional councils and chiefs to strengthen the link between customary and formal systems of dispute resolution.
He said traditional authorities had long played a role in resolving disputes and that their involvement would help make justice more accessible.
“The job of this council is to find a way to be a transmission point between the really customary way of resolving disputes and the non-formal way of resolving disputes,” Dr Srem-Sai said.
Commitment
The board chairman said members were aware of the responsibility that came with the appointment, and were committed to establishing and operationalising the ADR Centre effectively.
“The enormity of the task we have ahead of us is not lost on anyone here.
The kind of workload that the court has, there's no judicial system that can adequately take care of it.
The only way is to look for alternatives, and this is the vision that the Act sought to do by creating this centre,” he said.
Mr Austin said his team would meet to put in place a phased plan to achieve the objectives that the Act had placed on the board.
He gave an assurance that the board would collaborate with key stakeholders, including the Ghana Bar Association, the Judiciary and traditional authorities, to build a functional ADR system to help reduce the pressure on the courts, train ADR practitioners and facilitate the resolution of disputes at the traditional council and district levels.
The chairman acknowledged that although the centre did not have a dedicated funding source under the Act, the board would explore ways to make it financially sustainable.
