Former President John Agyekum Kufuor returned home Friday from Lagos, Nigeria, where he endorsed the call for African countries to establish Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms for settling differences that arise from election results. “ADR makes for flexibility, leads to the development of expertise, saves time, is less costive, relives the overload of cases on traditional courts and results in a win-win situation of all the parties in involved,” he told a meeting of legal experts, politicians and academics at the Federal Palace Hotel on Thursday. Former President Kufuor was speaking as Guest of Honour at the 5th summit of the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG), organized jointly with the National Judicial Institute. His topic was ‘Effective Management of Political Differences and its Impact on Economic Development.’ Former President Kufuor called for the adoption of biometric registration and electronic voting systems to help stem the rising tide of election disputes which arise out of lack of trust or believe in the electoral process by all the participants. “This could be because of doubts of the electoral role, impersonation, double voting, suspicion in the counting process or blatant disenfranchisement of whole sections of the community.” He said election disputes could lead to civil strife and adversely affect the economies of countries since investors would not go to countries in turmoil, adding that ADR could be a speedy way for resolving such disagreements. Former President Kufuor also visited the office complex of the NCMG. He was away for three days. Source: Frank Agyekum Spokesperson, Office of Former President Kufuor