KOFI ANOKYE OWUSU-DARKO (BLOG2)

  INTRODUCTION The 1992 Constitution , envisages three arms of government, the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary with their respective powers, separated, dispersed and laid down in Articles 58, 93 (2) and 125 respectively. These arms of government are however expected to work in harmony in the governance of the State, counter-balancing their powers without necessarily interfering in each other’s role. A form of checks and balances so no one arm of government oversteps its limits. The challenges with this arrangement is often where the Executive is trying to overstep its boundaries and the will of the other arms to stop it. There have been situations that the opportunity has arisen where the Judiciary was in a position to limit the powers of the Executive but did not have the will to do so as in the famous and celebrated case of Re Akoto and 7 others case. It is however heart-warming that we still have Judges who are bold spirits to interpret the law without fear or favour ...

  Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has been embraced and enshrined in the Ghanaian legal system through various legislations such as the Alternative Dispute Act, 2010 (Act 798), Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), Land Act, 2010 (Act 1036), Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759), Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459) as well as the High Court (Civil Procedure) (Amendment) Rules, 2020. Relevant Sections give legal justification to the practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution. The use of the word “Alternative” in the various legislations except for the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) which refers to “Appropriate", suggest that the various dispute resolution methods such as Negotiation, Mediation, Facilitation and Arbitration are “alternatives” to judicial litigation at the law courts and that the judicial process is the first point of call to resolve disputes. This is most inappropriate resulting in litigation, first being taken to the courts for it to be referred for mediation or arbitration, ...