General News of Thursday, 22 July 2021
Source: GNA
2021-07-22
ADR promotes a win-win situation for conflicting parties
Mr Wilson Arthur, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Practitioner, has called on the public to revisit the system of resolving conflict amicably as it promoted unity than the Judicial adversarial system.
He said ADR was used in the past to enhance the relationship among feuding families and communities, which ensured that each party was satisfied with settlement procedures.
Mr Arthur, also a former DCE of Wassa East, in an interview said, ADR promoted a win-win situation, was less expensive, and did not waste much time as against the court processes saddled with laborious activities.
In July every year, a week is set aside to raise awareness on the need for people to begin rethinking ADR as an affordable, peaceful and timely approach to addressing issues and deepen its use.
Last year alone, over 2000 cases were settled through ADR.
Meanwhile, Nana Kaku Bulu, a traditional Chief and an ADR consultant, described the courtroom process as “adversarial systems” which created more tension among affected individuals.
He cited a case, which had lingered for over 35 years in court but took only a month to settle under ADR.
Nana Bulu, therefore, encouraged peace-loving Ghanaians to see ADR as a better approach to dealing with misunderstanding rather than the Judicial system.