The Contribution of ADR Schemes in Ghana’s Adjudicating Landscape

Abstract

Alternative Dispute Resolution has become an integral part of the adjudication landscape in Ghana, reconfiguring the scope of the justice delivery system in Ghana and bringing it into the fold of best practice at the international level. Globally, ADR is known for advancing timely, cost-effective, and relationship-saving alternatives for disputants outside the courts. Ghana’s adoption of ADR has been influenced by both international influences through the instruments of UNCITRAL and the New York Convention, as well as customary traditions that are based on principles of consensus in community dispute resolution. At the regional level, a culture of ADR has been promoted through ECOWAS and continental initiatives as an instrument of peacebuilding and commerce. Ghana domesticated these ideals through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798), and through the Judicial Service’s Court Connected ADR programme, which began as a pilot in 2005 and expanded thereafter. Concomitantly, these initiatives have yielded measurable dividends: court referrals to mediation and arbitration have reduced trial times for many civil and commercial matters; customary arbitration continues to resolve land and family disputes at the community level. A number of arbitrations involving state and corporate actors have revealed both the promise and fiscal risk associated with arbitration. While successes have been recorded relative to case diversion and user satisfaction, Ghana’s ADR ecology remains beset with challenges relating to consistency in enforcement, public awareness, and mediator capacity. Improved training, public education, investment in ADR institutions, and streamlined enforcement are recommended to consolidate ADR’s role in justice delivery and national development.