MiDA COLLABORATES WITH WADREC

As part of its Land Facilitation Activity Project, the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) engaged the services of the West Africa Dispute Resolution Center (WADREC) to provide Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services in the Awutu Senya Pilot Registration District (PRD) in the Central Region for a period of 36 weeks, in an effort to resolve land disputes. This took place in the latter part of 2009.

The objective was to utilize the ADR process in the PRD by developing a simple ADR model and manual, and also to train selected stakeholders in ADR. WADREC was also tasked to work with other disputants and use ADR methods and techniques to resolve land disputes so as to promote the Land Title registration exercise being conducted by MiDA.

The ADR process was introduced to facilitate MiDA’s Systematic Land Title Registration Project by expediting the resolution of land disputes in the PRD, alleviating legal procedures, preventing long court delays, and reducing the cost of litigation. Key activities and assignments undertaken by WADREC included:

·        Community entry

·        Inception report

·        ADR model

·        ADR training manuals

·        Skills based training workshops in ADR and conflict management

·        Case identification and settlement process

·        Graduation ceremony for ADR trainees

29 target communities were identified by WADREC as communities where potential land disputes could arise during the land demarcation and land title registration process; however, just 11 of them benefited from this process. These were:

·        Adawukwa

·        Opeikuma

·        Opeipanyin

·        Loye

·        Apra

·        Bawjiase

·        Anomawobi

·        Opembo-Ankwandoh

·        Mangoase / New Nkontrowa

·        Bentum/ Awutu Kantamanso

·        Opeipanyin / Bentum

A total of 20 land disputes were referred to ADR, out of which 17 were completely resolved, 2 were partially resolved and 1 was unresolved. The ADR efforts achieved immense benefits for the disputants, the community and MiDA. Majority of the ADR sessions utilized mediation. A total of 73 persons were trained during the Skills Based Training in Conflict Management and Alternative Dispute Resolution and now form the core of ADR Practitioners in the district.

Though the process was a success in general, there were a few problems and challenges. These include

·        The absence of an existing proper boundary demarcation of allodial interests in the PRD as well as individual land parcels posed considerable challenges.

·        Some grantors had a problem with giving documents to grantees for registration since they believe this would amount to minimizing their control powers over the land

All in all, the ADR process succeeded in addressing the needs of the key stakeholders and the goals and objectives of the project were achieved on the whole.