Farmers and buyers transacting business with the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) are assured of amicable and speedy resolution of disputes that may emerge from their transactions.
Thanks to the setting up of a conflict resolution desk within the legal department of GCX to offer Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) services to aggrieved clients.
The GCX serves as a link between farmers and buyers, providing ready market for farm produce, while offering a reliable source of farm commodities to buyers.
The Exchange believes the desk would help to foster good relations with the traders.
Dr. Kadri Alfa, Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange, in his presentation a GCX external stakeholders’ workshop on its strategic plan development, held in Accra on Tuesday, said the desk is to offer an effective platform for aggrieved customers to seek redress in an amicable environment.
“We have a space in our office which is specifically for arbitration, where customers can come and talk about the problems they have. Aggrieved buyers pick and fill a form which then goes to the Chief Operations Officer and within 24 hours, a decision is made,” he said.
He afterwards explained to ADR Daily that, for instance, “If you grade and the buyer doesn’t accept the grading, the buyer can complete an arbitration form, then we have a third party, be it the Ghana Standard Authority or the Food and Drug Authority, to come in and do the grading.
“Also where delivery is done and the buyer doesn’t trust that the commodity grade is the same, the buyer can also go for arbitration,” he stated.
The workshop, which was attended by stakeholders drawn from academia, media, banking and finance and the agriculture sectors, was to solicit views on how to strengthen the existing structures of the GCX to increase Ghana’s national and international trade competitiveness, deepen the capital market through the creation of greater liquidity and improve transparency in the market.
The Ghana Commodity Exchange is a limited liability company, structured as a public private partnership, with the government of Ghana currently the sole shareholder.
The GCX, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), provides a platform for buying and selling of physical product or for trading in futures and options contracts for listed commodities.
The company operates a network of certified warehouses across Ghana, with easy access to farmers to store their produce.
By Benjamin Nana Appiah/adrdaily.com
