Resolve electoral disputes through ADR - Austin Gamey

The Chief Executive Officer of the Gamey and Gamey Group, Mr Austin A. Gamey, has called for the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve electoral disputes in the country.

According to him, the 2012 and the 2020 presidential election petitions vindicated his position that it was possible to resolve electoral disputes using ADR as a tool for peace-building in the country.

Mr. Gamey made the call at the graduation ceremony for students of the Gamey and Gamey ADR Institute at Community 26, near Kpone in the Greater Accra Region last Saturday.

A total of 29 professionals from diverse fields, ranging from human resource practitioners, bankers, members of the clergy, the Judiciary and the media, engineers, governance experts and consultants, graduated from the institute after completing an eight-month Professional Executive Master of Appropriate Dispute Resolution (PEM ADR) programme.

The graduation certifies the participants as ADR practitioners who will provide services as mediators and arbitrators.

The students graduated after being equipped with skills on self-mediation, leadership or managerial mediation, executive mediation and professional mediation, as well as arbitration for various sectors of the economy, including labour, land, banking and finance, as well as procurement disputes.

As part of the ceremony, the 23rd batch of students for the 2021 PEM ADR course were also matriculated.

Democracy

Mr Gamey said Ghana had been recognised as a key democratic state globally, which recognition needed to be protected.

"Ghana needs to build a consensual dispute resolution mechanism within the electoral system — from the registration of voters through to the declaration of results," he said.

According to him, the tension that characterised electoral processes in the country was not healthy.

Mr Gamey said since cooperation between the election management body and the political parties was desirable, the Gamey and Gamey Group would make another attempt to deploy ADR aimed at resolving the impasse between the Electoral Commission (EC) and some of the political parties.

Learning experience

The President of the graduating class, Mrs Elom Kudzo Adekahlor, described the course as very beneficial, stressing that the cohort had gained better understanding of the processes and methods of ADR techniques, the proper application and limits of ADR techniques and how to apply ADR methods to resolve disputes.

A member of the 2021 matriculating class at the ADR Institute, Mr Charles Ntiamoah Amoako, who is the Director of Technical Services at the Graphic Communications Group, said he enrolled onto the programme because the course offered an alternative route to for reaching a speedier and less expensive settlement of disputes.

Writer’s email: Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh