<<Print>>

Mr. Justice Samuel Marful-Sau, an Appeal Court Judge in-charge of the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) programme, on Monday stressed the need to develop ADR mechanisms. This will expedite the resolution of disputes to curb lengthy litigation at the courts that has made the country unattractive to international business entities. He said there was the need to develop ADR mechanisms like commercial arbitration, negotiation, mediation and conciliation, adding that the court-connected ADR was preparing the judiciary to embrace the new international judicial culture of resolving disputes other than through litigation. Mr. Justice Marful-Sau said this at a press briefing to launch the nationwide celebration of "ADR week" under the theme "Court-connected ADR: A collective responsibility towards a transparent and accountable judiciary" in Cape Coast. The week long celebration is aimed at intensifying the use of ADR in all district courts, creating mass public awareness about the mechanism as well as sensitizing stakeholders such as judges, lawyers and court officials. He said the court-connected ADR was aimed at promoting the rule of law and good governance, to reduce time and cost of resolving dispute, ensure effective, speedy and efficient delivery of justice, instil public confidence in the justice delivery system and reduce the backlog of cases pending in the courts. Mr. Justice Marful-Sau therefore stressed the determination of the Chief Justice to ensure that the programme is extended to all courts by 2013 and that the 2007-2008 annual report of the judicial service indicates that between January and June 2008, 926 cases were referred for mediation within magistrate's courts in Accra. He said of the number, 861 cases were handled out of which 387 were successfully settled, representing a settlement rate of 45%, while 75 out of 189 cases were also settled successfully in Cape Coast between January and May 2008. Mr. Justice Marful-Sau however mentioned inadequate funding as a major challenge facing the ADR programme resulting in poor remuneration of its mediators. He said because of inadequate resources to pay for additional work, the judicial service has to limit the number of cases the mediators handle. He said if mediators were well remunerated, cases would be quickly settled and the people would have confidence in the courts and would eventually not take the law into their own hands. Mr. Justice Marful-Sau expressed the hope that the media would continue to assist the judiciary to strengthen the foundation laid for ADR in the justice delivery system. He later went round to observe various mediating sessions that were on-going at the District Court with some officials from the ADR secretariat.