Workshop One-Adr

ADR is a structured negotiation process under which the parties to a dispute negotiate their
own settlement with the help of an intermediary who is a neutral person and trained in the
techniques of ADR. The various strategies involved in ADR include negotiation,
conciliation, mediation, mini-trial/early neutral evaluation, court annexed ADR and
arbitration1. These ADR approaches are continuously being relied upon as an alternate
or complement to conventional law suits.
The Arbitration and conciliation Act specifically defines arbitration agreement to mean an
“agreement by the parties to submit to arbitration all or certain disputes which have arisen
or which may arise between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether
contractual or not67”. This makes the class of arbitrable cases in Uganda wide and
seemingly limitless which makes contextualizing applications for the the court’s review
within the close confines of section 34 odious for parties. To compound this is judicial
attitude that conveys the impression that the statutes to be applied were cast in concrete and
broker with no discretion.
Arbitration is often chosen by parties to a commercial transaction because it is cheaper and

allows parties to pick a decision-maker that has experience in the subject matter of the
dispute, which can often be highly technical. Parties want, and expect, arbitral decisions to be
final. Arbitration would serve no purpose if the losing party could simply run off to court to
re-litigate the matter. Therefore in relation to arbitral proceedings, the orders appealable as of
right are; an order superseding an arbitration where the award has not been completed within
the period allowed by the court; an order on an award stated in the form of a special case; an
order modifying or correcting an award; an order staying or refusing to stay a suit where there
is an agreement to refer to arbitration; an order filing or refusing to file an award in an
arbitration without the intervention of the court (see section 76 (1) (a) – (e) of the Act) “and
except as otherwise expressly provided in [the] Act or by any law for the time being in force,
from no other orders2.”
Underlying the entire concept of arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism is
the principle of party control and the principle of restricted court intervention. The parties’
freedom to contract governs the arbitration process and must be respected. At its core,
arbitration is a private and consensual means of dispute resolution. It is private because
arbitration operates outside the public court system and is funded by the parties alone. It is
consensual because all aspects of an arbitration must be personally agreed by the parties. This
means that consensual arbitration is essentially a creature of contract, a contract in which the
parties themselves charter a private tribunal for the resolution of their disputes. When the
parties choose to resolve their disputes privately outside the public court system, they should
be left to that choice and not be subject to court intervention, except as needed to determine
2
Civil Procedure Act Cap 282
validity of the arbitration agreement or to ensure standards of basic procedural fairness for the
arbitral process.
The parties chose the law applicable to be that obtaining in Uganda. Under the relevant law,
parties are free to agree on the procedure to be followed by the arbitral tribunal in conducting
its proceedings. In the event that parties are not agreed on the procedure to be followed in the
conduct of proceedings, the arbitral tribunal is free to conduct the proceedings in a manner
which it considers appropriate (see section 19 (2) of the Act)3.
In Global Industries Ltd. v Trident Infratech Ltd.4, the matter arose from a tenancy
relationship in which had a tenancy agreement with an arbitration clause in it. Reviewing
the role of the court, the learned Judge held that the rights and obligations of the parties
were settled in the tenancy agreement as governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.
The court stated the position thus:
Once the parties in their contract executed on 1st July 2017 agreed
to have their disputes resolved by arbitration, both of them must
follow the law and rules thereunder that govern arbitration
proceedings right from the manifestation of a dispute, and
throughout the whole dispute resolution process under the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act Cap 4
3
Arbitration and Conciliation Act Cap5
4
Misc. Application No 250/2019

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ADR is a structured negotiation process under which the parties to a dispute negotiate their

Arbitration is often chosen by parties to a commercial transaction because it is cheaper and

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