Assessing the effectiveness of mediation as a dispute resolution technique in Uganda's construction industry.

Abstract

The increased backlog of construction cases due to the increased disputes in the industry in the various legal courts in Uganda has greatly affected the construction industry by increasing the cost of construction and the delay in timely completion of the project hence increasing the overall cost and completion of the project, this creates the need to devise means of resolving such disputes as fast as possible to eliminates such problems in the industry which will hence reduce costs and ensure projects are completed in the stipulated time and the available budget. Among the alternative dispute resolution techniques, mediation being the most commonly used in Uganda’s construction industry, being cheap and a quick process, then there is need to develop the method to help reduce the backlog of cases in the litigation and arbitration courts. However, being commonly used method, doesn’t guarantee that it the most effective method of dispute resolution. Therefore, the study is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of mediation through determining the most causes of disputes and how often these disputes happen, the use of mediation to resolve these dispute and how successful has it been, challenges faced during mediation and to draw strategies to ensure its effectiveness in dispute resolution.