PROFESSOR NII Ashie Kotey, Co-ordinator of German Technical Co-operation, (GTZ) Legal Pluralism and Gender Project, has announced that about 80,000 land cases are pending before the high courts in Accra alone.

Prof. Kotey said every day fresh cases are filed, adding to the already heaped ones. The GTZ co-ordinator announced this at the opening of a two-day training workshop on an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for members of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs (BRHC) at Sunyani recently.

The ADR training was the first in the series of training workshops to be organized for chiefs in all the ten regions in the country.

Prof. Kotey revealed that most of the cases at the High courts in Accra are more than ten years old, which need to be addressed to pave way for development in the affected areas.

According to him, ADR training would equip the chiefs with the necessary skills, so that they can handle some of the land cases, rather than taking them to courts, which does not normally have immediate solutions to them. He blamed some of the chiefs for being part of these land cases, and hoped that at the end of the training, the chiefs would be in a position to tackle these numerous land disputes.

Another area that the chiefs would be schooled in is the Legal Pluralism and Gender Project (LPGP).

The LPGP is a pilot project aimed at exploring innovative approaches to bridge the gap between the traditional, customary and formal, state legal systems.

The project has an overall objective of providing justice for all, particularly women and the rural poor. It allows the rule of law to prevail and ensures gender equity.

Land Law Focal Area (LLFA) is another aspect the GTZ took the chiefs through. The LLFA is to enable women get access to land and to ensure their security in land acquisition.

Welcoming the members, the president of BRHC, Nana Kwadwo Nyarko II, Pranghene, stated that major problems associated with the acquisition of land include the long delay, high cost, anxiety and frustration that parties experience in trial of land cases at regular court system.

Reasons attached to the delay of cases, according to Nana Nyarko, include over-dependence on litigation, making the number of land cases and appeals against judgements increase over the years.

The deputy Brong Ahafo regional minister, Mr. Yaw Adjei Duffour, cautioned the chiefs not to use their palaces to settle criminal cases such as defilement and rape, because most people still find it wise to use arbitration, negotiation and mediation to resolve their cases.

The minister appealed to the chiefs in the region to respect the mediation committee appointed by the House Chiefs to mediate the numerous chieftaincy disputes in the region.