3,000 CASES SOLVED THROUGH ADR IN ASHAIMAN (PAGE 18)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko, Tema

Mediation through alternative dispute resolution has solved over 3,000 cases in the Ashiaman Municipality between 2001 and 2007, and promoted peace in homes and workplaces.
Most of the cases were rent issues, debts, denial of paternity, child maintenance, neglect and land disputes.
The mediators, who were trained in conflict management in 1999 by the Ghana Association of Chartered Mediators and Arbitrators in conjunction with the Legal Aid Board to help decongest the courts, have since offered their services to residents in Ashiaman and its immediate communities like Zenu, Adjei-Kojo, Santeo, Kubekro and Bethlehem.
Speaking after its sitting, the Chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre at Ashiaman, Mr Gabriel Atsu, disclosed that the centre had successfully handled many issues in the municipality.
He said criminal cases which were reported at the centre had to be referred to the police for prosecution in courts in Tema and elsewhere because of the absence of a court at Ashiaman.
Mr Atsu stated that Ashiaman, which was recently given the municipality status, was populous and had slums as well.
He said the centre had counselled married couples on how to avoid misinformation, suspicion and frustration in their marriages and this had yielded positive results in many homes in the Ashaiman Municipality.
Mr Atsu observed that lack of child maintenance, which had led to child labour, was also rampant in Ashaiman.
He said that this had resulted in the denial of access to education, medical and parental care, compelling the children to undertake all sorts of menial jobs to support themselves.
Mr Atsu said the centre had been able to solve some of these problems and by the end of last year, it had salvaged 15 children aged between 10 and 15 years from indulging in activities that could be described as child labour. He said during mediation it came up that some factors militating against child maintenance by parents were divorce and separation of spouses, spouses having many children beyond the number they could cater for, teenage parenting, polygamous marital practices and the death of spouses.
He suggested that though arbitration had legal backing, Parliament must pass a legislation to back the arbitrators to strengthen them further to enable them to contribute to the amicable settlement of disputes .
Mr Atsu said patronage of the centre continued to increase and attract many residents and, therefore, appealed for rules and regulations to guide the practitioners at their centres.
Other mediators of the centre are Mr H. K. Mensah, Ms Justina Ativor and Mr Kingsley Kutiame.