Ensuring successful Pilgrimage

The paper is highly worried about reports in a section of the media that seven remaining flights secured by the National Hajj Council- NHC for this year’s Hajj, run the risk of being derailed.

The reports, as monitored on some media networks in Accra, suggest that the development follows a court order against the current NHC, obtained by one Afa Hakeem, a member of the former Interim Hajj Committee, which was instituted in 2008 by the Kufuor administration.

The plaintiff, according to Daily Graphic report of Thursday, October 28, 2010 is claiming $241,000, which he said he had given to the Hajj Committee then in furtherance of its activities.

The report further disclosed that the said order was directed at the Intercontinental Bank in Accra and has the effect of paralysing the committee’s finances and consequently its operations.

It is in this light that Today is calling on government, particularly the Office of the Vice-President, as a matter of urgency to take steps to resolve the growing anxiety and concerns among pilgrims and for that matter the entire Muslim community in the country.

It is important for those tasked to ensure that Ghanaian pilgrims that travel from Ghana to the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do everything humanely possible to ensure that this year’s Hajj proceeds smoothly without recourse to the perennial difficulties that pilgrims go through.

Today believes the reoccurrence of the same problems every year underlie concerns raised by Muslims and others that the Hajj programme has become an extension of the polarized Ghanaian political game and until governments refrain from the politicization of appointments of people onto the Hajj Committee, the problem will still persist.

That is why many Muslims heaved a huge sigh of relief when the previous administration mandated the real actors- the Chief Imam and other Muslim leaders- to handle the Hajj programme.

Although the reconstitution of the Hajj Committee by Muslims and their leadership helped to minimize the inherent problems, we are shocked that that system had to change with the change of government.

As recent as last year, an interim body was in place to oversee activities of the Hajj programme and we had anticipated that with more permanent structures now in place, the problems would be reduced to its barest minimum or none at all.

The fact that the pilgrims are experiencing similar problems clearly shows that we are either repeating the mistakes of the past or we are creating new problems which cannot totally be detached from the usual politics in the activities and operations of the Hajj Committee.

The paper believes that the Mills-led administration has no excuse than to ensure that the over 3,000 pilgrims, who have worked tirelessly over the years, make it safely to Saudi Arabia.

Indeed every effort must be made to ensure that the Ghanaian pilgrims go to the Holy Land to renew their faith and commitment in Allah.