Justice Essah, Prof. Frimpong Oppong head for Supreme Court — President announces at ADR Centre governing board inauguration

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that he has nominated two persons to the Supreme Court as replacement for two retiring justices of the highest court of the land.

He said the two, Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah, and a Senior Lecturer in Law at York University, Toronto, and Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong, “who have gone through the Judicial Council and the Judicial Secretary,” will soon “be subjected to the interrogation of Parliament before we are able to appoint them.”

President Akufo-Addo made the announcement at the Jubilee House in Accra when he swore in an eight-member governing board of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre.

The board is chaired by retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Victor Jones Dotse, with members including the President’s Nominee, Efua Ghartey; Francis Kofi Korankyi, a representative of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Michael Gyan Owusu, representing the Ghana Bar Association.

The rest are Jose Nicco-Anna, who represents the Ghana Institution of Surveyors; Angelina Mensah-Nomiah, representing the Judiciary; Joyce Adu from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, and Philomena Aba Sampson, representing Organised Labour.

The board is invested with power under the Act to provide facilities for the resolution of disputes through arbitration, mediation and other forms of voluntary dispute resolution.

It is also required, among other things, to register experienced and qualified persons as arbitrators and mediators and make rules for the conduct of arbitration and mediation in Ghana, including the review of rules for arbitration under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798).

President Akufo-Addo stated that the board was vested with power under the Act to provide facilities for the resolution of disputes through arbitration, mediation, and other forms of voluntary dispute resolution.

It was also required, among other things, to register experienced and qualified persons as arbitrators and mediators and make rules for the conduct of arbitration and mediation in the country, including the review of rules for arbitration under the Act.
 

Full operation 

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the inauguration of the governing board had paved the way for the full operationalisation of the ADR centre, which was expected to serve as a platform for ADR practitioners to improve their skills as members on the centre's register would be assigned cases for resolution.

The President is required to appoint an Executive Secretary for the centre in consultation with the board and in accordance with Article 195 of the Constitution, as well as Section 129 of the ADR Act to be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the centre.

President Akufo-Addo said he was awaiting consultation with the chairman of the board for them to proceed to this appointment.

He indicated that the establishment of the ADR Centre would further provide a viable opportunity for multimillion-dollar commercial disputes and cases involving the use of the state's valuable natural resources to be resolved in Ghana in a very wholesome environment and would also enable ADR practitioners, particularly members of the GBA, to sharpen their skills in the resolution of such disputes.

“This should propel Ghana to be an arbitration hub in Africa, particularly in West Africa,” President Akufo-Addo added.

The President indicated that the nation's strong democratic credentials, liberal and open economy, and environment conducive to business in general, coupled with the nation's strong judicial system and pro-arbitration courts, handed it a big advantage in the race to be the arbitration nerve centre in the whole of Africa and in West Africa in particular. 

Rules

President Akufo-Addo explained that to make the centre more authoritative in the resolution of disputes, Act 798 permitted the Attorney-General, upon the advice of the Governing Board, to develop rules governing arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution at the centre.