Effective management of commercial disputes: opportunities for the Nairobi centre for international arbitration

Abstract

Arbitral institutions play a n important role in t he growth and development of i nternational arbitration the world over . They are tasked with promoting and safeguarding the discipline , both through ensuring development of sound legal framework and facilitating the practice of arbitration and other Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms . While international arbitration is ‘international’ in nature, various regional blocks have developed arbitral institutions that target particular economic areas and take care of commercial disputes in that area. While these institutions have been established under various legal regime s , they strive to maintain professional standards that correspond to the international best practices in arbitration. The author s , in this paper, critically discuss the potential of the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration in promoting e ffective man agement of commercial disputes in Kenya and the African region as a whole. The paper offers recommendations on how to tackle the potential challenges t hat the Centre is likely to encounter in discharging its statutory mandate of facilitat ing and encourag ing the conduct of international commercial arbitration in accor dance with the Act, and administer ing domestic and international arbitrations as well as alternative dispute resolution techniques under its auspices .