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The wife of a former British Prime Minister, Mrs Cherie Blair, has suggested to the government to initiate the establishment of an African Arbitration Centre in Ghana. She said the centre should be manned by Africans to arbitrate, particularly between businesses and governments on the continent. Currently, such issues are dealt with by the International Arbitration Court. Mrs Blair, who led a three-member delegation to meet the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday, expressed grave concern over the amounts of money which African governments paid to aggrieved parties who won their cases at the International Arbitration Court. Those huge sums, she said, were a drain on the resources of African governments. She noted that the inability of governments to address the problems of their people was due to the payment of huge sums of money to aggrieved parties, saying that had become a source of agitation and social unrest in some African countries. She said the establishment of the arbitration centre would also go a long way to build the capacity of local lawyers in international arbitration. Support She was optimistic that Ghana�s pedigree as the bastion of democracy in Africa would earn the country support from the comity of nations in the quest to establish a regional centre for arbitration. Mrs Blair said she had no doubt that other African countries would support Ghana if it decided to establish the centre, since it would inure to their benefit. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, described the idea as good, adding that the presence of such a centre in the country would benefit the continent. Responding, the Vice-President said the idea was laudable and would be considered by the government. He, however, added that the establishment of such a centre was capital intensive and stressed that the government would liaise with the private sector to arrive at a position on the issue.