80 ARBITRATORS PASS OUT (PAGE 32)

Story: Abdul Aziz

The first eighty arbitrators of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators to operate the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Courts have passed out with a call on them to help decongest the courts in the country.
Dr S. K. B. Asante, Chairman of Ghana Arbitration Centre, who made the call, urged the Judiciary to fully incorporate ADR into the judicial procedures of the country.
He explained that arbitration could achieve its aims when conducted side by side court proceedings so that ADR becomes the first option while the courts remain as the last resort for justice delivery.
He said the courts, which were the last resort by their nature of delving deeper into cases, could take more time to arrive at their judgement while the ADRs granted awards at the settlement of cases.
He, therefore, urged the participants not to mimic the traditional courts in the handling of their cases but to conduct their procedures in a more informal and friendly atmosphere.
He said ADR had become a normal path of modern legal practice especially when Ghana had struck oil and business activities related to oil rights were bound to bring some issues that would need to be looked at by the courts.
He said presently the Arbitration Centre was handling 10 cases and that was bound to increase, with the education of the professional classes and the business community.
Dr Asante said the commercial courts in the country also used ADR to settle some commercial disputes so that both parties when satisfied could continue their partnership.
Mr Bayo Ojo, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was a resource person on arbitration, urged Ghana to pass a legislation in Parliament to give legal backing to arbitrators in the country.
He said now that Ghana had succeeded in building some human resource capacity in arbitration what was left was to give them legal backing to carry out their work without hesitation.
He said the 1961 legislation that gave legal backing to arbitration had become outmoded and required a second legislation to update the existing law.
Mr F.Y. Addo, a Fellow of the Institute of Arbitrators, London, organisers of the course, said the London Institute of Arbitrators had accepted to train Ghanaians to become members of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
He said students who were desirous of furthering their course could pursue more courses to become Fellows of the institute where they could open offices as arbitration centres.