DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE Intra-country conflicts 17. Internally, several potential and real areas of conflict need appropriate attention. Among these are disputes about land ownership, land use and chieftaincy, as well as political disputes, particularly those relating to elections. Underlying land and chieftaincy disputes are issues of inheritance and succession, which, in turn, are due to the absence of a uniform and legally enforceable set of governing principles. Mechanisms for conflict resolution 18. Ghana has well-established and well-defined institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, including: ? State Security Services; ? National Security Council; and ? Regional and District Security Councils. 19. There is a hierarchy of chieftaincy institutions, made up of the following: ? National House of Chiefs; ? Regional Houses of Chiefs and Traditional Councils; ? National Disaster Management Organisation; ? Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice; and ? National Reconciliation Commission. 20. In addition to the State judicial system, there are a host of civil society organisations (CSOs). Furthermore, with the support of NGOs, like the Ghana Association of Chartered Mediators and Arbitrators, the government has recently introduced an innovative, appropriately structured and cost-effective mechanism into the country's justice system the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). 21. The critical role of traditional chieftaincy institutions in conflict prevention, management and resolution is well established and acknowledged in Ghana. For various reasons, however, the chieftaincy institutions have been weak in the actual performance of these functions. A poignant example is the ongoing feud over the succession dispute arising from the death of the traditional ruler, Ya-Na Abdulai Andani II. ii. Findings of the CRM 22. Discussions under this objective, especially in the regions, have been dominated by chieftaincy institutions and their roles. There is a strong consensus on the relevance of 19