The Chief Justice, Justice Getrude Araba Essaba Sackey Torkornoo, has urged judges and court administrators to treat Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) cases with the seriousness they deserve.
Her Ladyship Justice Getrude Torkornoo, speaking at the opening of this year’s ADR week at the Sekondi High Court, said that ADR, over the last decade and a half, has significantly reduced the workload of the judicial service and the courts by a considerable margin.
“Over the last one and half decades, the ADR programme has, to a large extent performed impressively by helping the Judiciary to reduce the load on the courts by 32,745 cases. This is a positive support ADR has offered the Judiciary without which this load would have been borne by the courts under more stressful conditions. The good news is that this number of cases resolved at ADR are resolved absolutely without parties coming back into the court for appeals. The importance of ADR as I have demonstrated to you this morning gives management of the Judicial Service every compelling ground to focus attention on ADR and resource the ADR Directorate to do more to make our courts efficient, user-friendly and to make access to justice real,“ she said.
The Chief Justice, Justice Getrude Araba Essaba Sackey Torkornoo, while encouraging the public to use ADR as a method for settling disputes, also urged the courts and its administrators to take ADR cases seriously.
“To the general public, ADR has become an integral part of Ghana’s adjudication system. Therefore, when a judge refers a case to ADR, parties involved should not feel slighted. I recommend ADR for everyone in suitable cases, as its benefits far outweigh those of litigation. I urge our Registrars and the general staff to handle ADR processes with the same seriousness as regular court processes. ADR empowers disputants to resolve their cases based on their interests, without strict adherence to the law. This is why parties who opt for ADR achieve maximum satisfaction. Judges and Magistrates must, therefore, prioritize ADR in their pursuit of justice, as ADR constitutes a significant component of the justice system,” she added.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), a non-litigation approach to settling disputes, has been found to be cost-effective and less time-consuming for both clients and the state. In Ghana, the legal basis for ADR is found in Section 72 and 73 of the Courts Act, 1993, Act 459. Agreements reached at the end of an ADR process are sent to the court for adoption as a consent judgment, making the terms of settlement enforceable by the courts.
In an effort to resource the judiciary, Her Ladyship Justice Getrude Torkornoo also commissioned a District court for the Effia Kwesimintsim Municipality.
