ICC- Ghana pays courtesy call on Chief Justice

The National Executive Committeeof the International Chamber of Commerce, ICC-Ghana has paid a courtesy call on the Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, to wish her well as she marks seven years of being in office.

The visit was also to inform her about some of the programmes that ICC-Ghana is working on to help train lawyers and judges, especially, in the area of dispute resolution. The delegation comprised the Chairman of ICC-Ghana, Alhaji Asoma Banda, and other Executives.

The chairman in his address stated that his motivation for the setting up of a Centre for the Arbitration of Cases in Ghana is the result of numerous judgement-debt awards being accrued by the State as a result of lack of adequate training for State Attorneys and lack of information -- particularly in cases where ADR avenues could have been employed. ICC-Ghana, with support from the world body, will therefore be running training programmes since arbitration is often used by States and State-entities, and approximately 10 percent of arbitrations involve a State or a State-entity.

At the International Court of Arbitration there is a concentration of cases from sub-Saharan Africa, Central and West Asia, Central and Eastern Europe. Cases from these regions account for about 80 percent of the total arbitrations involving states and state entities the world over. Cases cover both commercial and investment disputes. Claims arising out of commercial contracts constitute the largest category of cases and the most frequent relating to construction.

Alhaji Banda formally requested the Chief Justice to recommend some retired Ghanaian judges and lawyers of repute to represent Ghana at the International Court of Arbitration, since that is one of the mandates of ICC-Ghana. He also informed the Chief Justice of ICC-Ghana’s intention to set up an Arbitration Centre in the country to hear cases. That way, when corporate bodies are signing contracts, Ghana will be stated as the place for arbitration. This would ultimately help to reduce the cost incurred by businesses that have to travel abroad for the purpose of arbitration.

The Chief Justice remarked that the idea of setting up a trustworthy and credible Arbitration Centre in Ghana is a brilliant one, as it would deal with high-level cases. She emphasised the need to put the appropriate mechanisms in place to facilitate the kind of disputes the Centre is likely to handle.

Chief Justice Wood urged ICC-Ghana to set up a team to work on the modalities for setting up the Arbitration Centre. This working group, which must include the Bench and the Bar, will fashion out what is best-suited for the country as well as the terms of reference for such a committee. In her view, the Centre should ultimately serve as a model for the whole of Africa.

With such a committee in place, selection and training of lawyers to serve as arbitrators will be transparent.
The ICC already has two Ghanaian lawyers of high repute serving at the International Court of Arbitration. They are Lawyers Felix Ntrakwah and Ace Ankomah.