The Chief Justice, Anin Yeboah, on Thursday declared March 9 to 13, as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Week, which aimed at reducing the backlog of cases at the 131 participating courts by 20 per cent.

This is to coincide with the theme for this legal year term: “Making our Courts user friendly through the use of ADR,” a statement signed by Mr. Alex Nartey, National ADR Coordinator stated.

The statement said 131 courts comprising 33 Circuit Courts and 98 District courts “shall participate by devoting the whole week for settlement of court cases through ADR adjudication procedure across the country”.

The Bar, disputants, the Media and the Public are therefore encouraged to participate fully and cooperate with the Judicial Service to make this Legal Year term’s ADR week a success, the statement said.

ADR has been adopted by the Judicial Service, Ghana as part of its adjudication process dubbed: “Court Connected ADR”.

The aim of the programmer is to ensure that access to justice in Ghana is made easier, cheaper, non-adversarial, expeditious and flexible to all particularly the poor and vulnerable.

Pursuant of this, the Chief Justice in a policy directive on the Court Connected ADR programmer, has instituted an ADR Week in every Legal Year term, to give parties the opportunity to settle their cases through mediation.

It also serves as a platform to run programmes and activities to create awareness on the availability of ADR as a compliment to the adjudication process in the Courts.