Justice Irene Charity Larbi of the Court of Appeal has urged alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners to implement disciplinary procedures against members who break the profession's code of conduct without fear or favor.
She stated that the Ghana National Association of ADR Practitioners (GNAAP), which has now become the country's professional organization for ADR practitioners, must guarantee that its members adhere to the profession's best practices and principles in order to resolve disputes between disputing parties.
"Being a member of a profession or a professional organization is considered as a sign of integrity, ethics, trust, and expertise in general, and this is feasible provided your association does not compromise on its members' ethical commitments and enforces all of your disciplinary actions."
"As conciliators, reconciliators, peacemakers, and dispute resolution practitioners, your members are in a fiduciary position and must, as a result, live above unethical misbehavior," she said.
Justice Larbi, who is also the judge in charge of the Judiciary's Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, spoke at GNAAP's ninth annual general conference in Accra on Saturday.
The conference, which focused on "ADR practice as a profession," brought together ADR practitioners from both the commercial and public sectors to learn about current trends in the field and how to stay relevant in an ever-changing judicial system.
Newly qualified members were also sworn in after satisfying the association's qualifications, which have now been upgraded to professional body status.Reforms
Recent legislative reforms, according to Justice Larbi, have expanded the use of ADR to cover critical aspects of the country's legal processes, such that the outcome of ADR processes affects not only domestic and traditional informal endeavors, but also assumes critical equitable and legal interests in disputing parties, including criminal justice.
As a result, she stated, obtaining an ADR practice certification without understanding of non-ADR matters was insufficient.
She explained that ADR practitioners must follow the profession's ethics, including natural justice principles and issues with conflict of interest, privacy, and secrecy.
"As arbiters, you must follow natural justice principles and guarantee that parties who come before you are given a fair hearing and refrain from being judges in your own cause," she said.
Representation
The fact that the ADR fraternity has no representation in the framework of the ADR Act, such as the ADR Centre, which has wide responsibilities for the advancement of professional ADR practice in the country, was viewed as disappointing by GNAAP President Daniel Owusu-Koranteng.