Don’t bury differences, resolve them! Ghanaians have been advised against the practice of “burying their differences” and rather resolve differences for lasting peace.
According to Saeed Musah-Khaleepha, acting Executive Director of the Gamey and Co ADR Centre in Accra, the practice of burying differences is counter-productive.
Describing the practice as “highly dangerous,” he said people in a dispute situation due to differences, needed to find ways of effectively resolve the dispute.
“Burying differences is like covering a landmine. It will explode with time. If you bury your differences, it may be exhumed by a party at a later time.” he said.
In an interview with ADR Daily, after interacting with participants of a professional mediation class in Accra, Mr Musah-Khaleepha explained that burying differences creates artificial harmony and peace, while the issues and causes of the disputes remain unresolved.
Burying differences, he said, is like asking parties “to forgive and forget or stop talking about the issue.”
With time, he said situations trigger the resurrection or explosion of the issues because the roots of the disputes are left to grow, adding that it is dangerous to manage disputes by asking parties to bury their differences.
“The best way to handle differences and disputes is to have them effectively resolved by addressing the actual causes and the interests of the parties. And allowing all concerns and issues to tabled and resolved comprehensively,” he said, adding that mediation is key to the resolution of disputes and conflicts.
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According to him, some of the intractable disputes and conflicts in Ghana and around the globe, have been a result of an explosion of buried differences which were not properly resolved at the simmering stage.
In that regard, he advised Mediators against helping disputing parties to bury their differences.
“Your duty as a Mediator is to help the parties to open up all their differences, and facilitate an effective voluntary resolution by the parties,” he said.
By Edmund Mingle/ adrdaily.com
