The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism was on Tuesday, 23 January 2007, launched at the High Court in Banjul by the Secretary of State for Justice and National Assembly Matters, Kebba Sanyang.

In his launching statement, Mr Sanyang said that the government of The Gambia has “under various policy initiatives, namely the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), the Good Governance Policy and the Vision 2020 strategy, continued to buttress the point on access to justice, better administration of justice and respect for the rule of law.”

Mr Sanyang said that the government has realised that by making these areas a priority, there would be increased investor confidence in the country, a well functioning society, thereby leading to the socio-economic development of the country. He added that judicial reform is on the top of government’s agenda, noting that it has continued to support the judiciary system in a number of ways.

Secy Sanyang noted that the judiciary is now on its way to becoming self-accounting, a fact, he said, that shows their respect for the independence of the judiciary. He said they have been building High Court in the five administrative regions as a means of providing better access to justice and, of recent, the advent of the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism.
“To this end,” he added “we are not only committed to setting up the court connected system but also setting up a national ADR Secretariat, which, as we have heard is an independent body dedicated to settling private disputes using ADR as a parallel to the court systems. All these efforts clearly show how committed government is to creating a legal environment conducive enough to the public at large and potential investors.”

The Secretary of State further stressed that the focus of government is on the public that they serve, adding that one of their most important aims is to improve access to justice, especially for what he termed the socially excluded. He opined that proper access to justice could help promote the empowerment that comes from feeling that people’s rights are adequately protected and that there is an ordered institution to turn to for help.

“To do this we need to explore alternatives to court and tribunal based systems, which are quicker, cheaper and less adversarial. We want to ensure that people are not unnecessarily driven to litigation. A court hearing should be a last resort, not the only available option,” he noted.

Secy Sanyang further pointed out that government’s key public target is to decongest the courts of the backlog of cases currently awaiting decision, saying that some of such cases could be resolved without recourse to courts. He said the government is committed to enabling the resolution of civil disputes quickly, effectively and in a manner and at a cost proportionate to the issues at stake, noting that such methods of resolution of disputes are often as satisfactory or even more satisfactory than court outcomes can provide.

Secy Sanyang observed that ADR is not a new concept as elders have settled family disputes in this country by means of mediation, emphasising that the only thing that is new is the formalization of such techniques and the institutionalization of ADR in the country.