Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) week launched in Accra

Accra, Dec 1, GNA - Mr Aboagye Tandoh, a Circuit Court Judge, has called on all to embrace and nurture the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism as a reliable partner to the traditional justice delivery system for efficient justice delivery.

He said the ADR concept has served as a complement to the traditional court system in making access to justice cheaper, easier, expeditious, non-adversarial and faster to the citizenry.

'This has also helped in reducing the backlog of cases in the courts substantially due to the mass mediation exercise,' he noted.

Mr Tandoh made the called on Monday at the Launch of the ADR week celebration in Accra.

He said a week in each legal year term is set aside as an ADR week to create mass public awareness in order to educate the citizenry on the use of ADR. Stakeholder's including judges, court officials, and lawyers are also sensitized.

'During every ADR week, parties who have cases pending in courts that are connected to the ADR programme are given the opportunity to have their cases settled through mediation. Mediators are assigned to each court to help the parties resolve cases that have been referred to ADR by magistrates and judges.'

He said the court connected ADR was adopted and incorporated by the Chief Justice as a core component of the justice delivery system in Ghana, as an option to parties whose cases are pending in the courts.

Mr Tandoh said the programme was piloted in selected District Courts in Accra and Tema in 2005 and 2007 by the National ADR Secretariat, under the Judicial Reforms, Project Development and Implementation unit of the Judicial Service.

He said to ensure uniformity in the practice of the court connected ADR, an ADR uniform practice manual was launched in 2007 by the judicial service to guide practitioners, but was subsequently reviewed to be in tune with the new ADR Act, 798 which was enacted in 2010.

'The ADR Directorate is headed by a Justice of the Appeal Court with a Deputy Director In-Charge of implementation and the management of the day to day activities of the directorate. In addition regional ADR Secretariats, staffed with a Regional ADR Coordinator and a Secretary have been established in all 10 regions,' he added.

He noted that the court connected ADR is very efficient and guarantees the interest of both parties involved in every aspect of the process.

Mr Tandoh said currently the ADR programme had been extended to 67 District and Circuit Courts across the country with at least three mediators assigned to each of these courts, adding that a total of 215 mediators have been trained and assigned to the 67 courts connected to the ADR programme.

He said between Janruary to June 2015, a total of 2,253 cases were mediated out of which 1,047 cases were settled representing 46 percent settlement rate.

He said with the realization that land related cases had become dominant in the courts, the Judicial Service in collaboration with the Land Administration Project had also trained 30 Surveyors to be used as mediators on pilot bases to reduce the backlog of land cases in the land courts in Greater Accra.

GNA