Legal Pluralism and Conflict Resolution in the Kongo Traditional Area of Ghana

Abstract

Many societies in Africa recognize legal plurality as colonization led to the introduction and institution of western legal system along already existing indigenous legal mechanisms based on culture and tradition. This paper examined some similarities and differences the traditional court in Kongo has with the modern state-court. The paper also explored the prospects of the traditional court in conflict resolution in an era of modernity and religious proliferation. It was a qualitative study which used the case study design. The chief, four elders to his council of elders, two staff of the state court and eight community members of Kongo were purposively and conveniently sampled and interviewed for data. It emerged that both the Kongo traditional court and modern state court have similarities and differences relative to procedures and focus when it comes to conflict resolution. It was also revealed that the Kongo indigenous mechanism to conflict resolution has great prospects into the future. It was, therefore, recommended that the two court systems in the area should collaborate to leverage on each’s strengths and augment each other to provide opportunities for the people in the area to resolve their cases and have peaceful and harmonious life.