The 2024 Professional Executive Master of Appropriate Dispute Resolution (PEM.ADR) programme of the Gamey and Gamey ADR Institute, has ended with a call on traditional leaders to adopt Palace mediation in the resolution of disputes in their jurisdictions.
The 31-week training programme took the participants through intensive sessions that equipped them with the knowledge and skills in various dimensions of conflict resolution in diverse professional fields and sectors of the economy.
It paves the way for the Cohort-26 members to undergo the Institute’s annual mediation camp to test their skills by engaging in simulation exercises and community mediation services.
The participants are from diverse professional fields such as banking, academia, insurance, legal, finance, security, education, and business sectors, as well as traditional and religious leadership.
At a brief closing session, Mr. Austin Gamey, Chief Executive Officer of Gamey and Gamey Group urged chiefs, who currently adjudicate disputes among their subjects, to rather adopt mediation to promote peace in their communities.
He described the present customary adjudication process in Palaces where chiefs pronounce judgement in disputes among their subjects, as divisive as it does not promote peace and good relationships among community members.
“The losers in adjudication get disgruntled against the chief and the other party; and the winner too can’t celebrate the win amidst the tension, because he has lost the relationship with the other party who may be a family member, a friend, a co-tenant, work colleague, trade partner or neighbour,” he said.
According to him, the practice of mediation would ensure that parties on both sides of a dispute would both gain at the end of a chief’s intervention for a resolution, rather than leaving the Palace as either a winner or loser.
“They shouldn’t be afraid of losing the fines that losers pay to the Palace. Rather, our chiefs would gain more from mediation.
“Mediation will make both sides happy, and it will surprise you that instead of getting a fine or one goat from one party who would have been pronounced a loser in adjudication, the two happy parties can give one goat each or jointly donate some money to the chief,” he noted.
“Mediation is the way to go for traditional leaders,” he said, and urged all traditional leaders who have trained as mediators or practice as professional mediators to become agents of change in promoting mediation in the Palaces.
He also invited more traditional leaders to seek ADR training at the Institute, adding that mediation skills are vital to enable chiefs to effectively lead people and manage their communities.
Mr. Gamey, who is also the lead facilitator of the PEM-ADR programme, commended the participants for their commitment during the training, and encouraged them to incorporate the mediation principles in their activities at work and home.
Madam Alberta Aku Agbemordzi, President of the 26th Cohort of PEM-ADR, in her remarks, described the training as impactful and transformative, indicating that the practice of the new knowledge and skills gained from the programme, has changed their perspectives and made members become better versions of themselves.
She expressed appreciation to the Institute and the facilitators for the support throughout the programme, and looked forward to their participation in the Institute’s mediation camp slated for the end of this month at the Aburi Botanical Gardens in the Eastern region.
