The Ghana National Association of ADR Practitioners (GNAAP) has announced its plan to set up a Mediation and Arbitration Centre with the aim contributing to the growth of professional ADR practice in Ghana.
The setting up of the Centre, which would offer a platform for ADR practitioners, particularly members of the association, to apply their skills in dispute resolution, is part of an expansion drive by GNAAP.
Mr Wogbe Atta Dogoe, General Secretary of GNAAP announced the plan in his report at the association’s 2019 Annual General Conference in Accra on Saturday.
The association, which has over 400 members, currently offers ADR services through the Centre for Citizens’ Empowerment, a conflict resolution and advocacy non-governmental organisation.
But Mr Dogoe explained that the new Centre would provide a formalized structure with high standard arbitration and mediation rules to ensure quality service delivery to clients.
In addition, he said it is expected to serve as a platform to enable members to effectively practice, adding that members on the Centre’s roster would be assigned cases for resolution.
“The Centre will make members more active in mediation and arbitration practice,” he said.
The association was established in 2014, and its members have diverse backgrounds. They include engineers, lawyers, teachers, security officers, business entrepreneurs, traditional leaders, politicians and the clergy.
The 6th Annual General Conference, which was preceded by a mediation outreach in Pokuase to propagate ADR and help disputants to settle cases, had the theme, “The place of Alternative Dispute Resolution in contemporary Ghana.”
Justice (Rtd) Johanna Abena Yankson, Executive Director of the Institute of Para-Legal Training and Leadership Studies, who chaired the conference, charged ADR practitioners to do more in expanding the frontiers of ADR in the country.
She said that in spite of the benefits of ADR, many Ghanaians remained uninformed about the concept, and therefore, encouraged more awareness creation interventions.
As part of the conference, which discussed the progress of ADR in Ghana, as well as the growth of the association, 45 new members of GNAAP were inducted.
By Edmund Mingle/adrdaily.com
