Many Kenyans continue to misunderstand mediation, often confusing it with arbitration and other dispute resolution processes, according to James Mangerere, the President of Mediation Training Institute East Africa.

Speaking during an interview with Radio Generation, Mangerere said the confusion stems from a general lack of awareness about the differences between the methods grouped under Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

He explained that while ADR includes various approaches such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and eradication, the concept of mediation remains unclear to most people.

“The problem is we are not very clear about what mediation is. That’s the reason why most people confuse it with arbitration. Others confuse it with conciliation,” he said on Wednesday

Mangerere described mediation as a self-driven process where the parties in conflict are empowered to find their own solutions with the help of a neutral third party.

“Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution process where you empower the parties themselves to make their own decisions. It is a self-determinative process… the mediator is a third party who is neutral, who opens lines of communication for these parties to discuss and come up with their own mutually acceptable solution,” he said.

He warned that the lack of understanding is often exploited.

“The public does not understand it, and definitely people will take advantage of that. And sometimes you’ll hear people telling you, ‘please, let’s sit down and arbitrate’, when they really mean ‘let’s sit down and mediate’,” he said.

Addressing a common misconception, Mangerere clarified that mediators do not have to be lawyers or judges.

“There’s a notion that you have to be a lawyer to be a mediator. That’s wrong… in the country right now, 60% of the mediators we have are non-lawyers, only 40% are lawyers,” he noted.

Mangerere added that the field has attracted professionals from diverse backgrounds, including teachers, doctors, psychologists, accountants, and others, especially in areas like education.

“They have what we call substantive expertise, subject matter expertise in the areas dealing with education. Therefore, a teacher trained as a mediator would use the same skills to resolve issues specifically related to the education field,” he said.

On what qualifies someone to become a mediator, Mangerere said many people already possess part of the skill set required for mediation.

“When you step into a classroom as a mediator, you already have 50% of the skills, because as you grow up, you have already developed your emotional and social intelligence,” he said.

He described emotional intelligence as the ability to understand one’s own emotions to make sound decisions, and social intelligence as the awareness of other people’s emotions to guide interactions.

“When we combine the two, we call it intuition, and intuition is usually fixed by the University of Life,”  Mangerere said.

Mangerere said the training provided by the institute focuses on behavioral technology — techniques used to influence human behavior.

“This can be done in a classroom setup for one week, morning to evening, where we impart you with the knowledge that can help you bring out the intuition that you already have in resolving disputes,” he said.