By Zulaihatu Abubakar
The National Chairman of the
Ghana Hajj Committee, Mr. Ibrahim Abdul-Rauf Tanko, has revealed that, this
year’s hajj pilgrimage has been a success, although, with minor challenges.
According to him, the problem
they encountered had to do with pilgrims being escorted with many people to the
hajj village. This, he said, created a major problem for them in term of crowd
control.
“I can confidently say that
this year’s hajj has been successful apart from late submission of application
which has prevented some from getting their visas; but their monies were
refunded to them back. Everything went on smoothly and we are expecting them
back by the end of this month God willing”, he added.
He said, 5,430 Ghanaian Muslims were
airlifted to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to observe this year’s Hajj.
Alhaji Tanko advised Ghanaians
who wished to observe next year’s pilgrimage to pay on time, in order to avoid
encountering this year’s similar situation, adding that “this helps to make our
process smoothly without encountering any challenges”.
The first flight of this year’s hajj departed Ghana
on Tuesday, September 24, 2013 with 319 pilgrims. This year’s Hajj has recorded
minimal challenges unlike previous years’.
The Ministry of Health assigned
some medical officers to accompany the 2013 Hajj pilgrims in order to ensure
they get urgent treatment if any of them contracts the deadly corona-virus in
the Middle East.
Vice President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe
Amissah-Arthur who saw the first batch of pilgrims off, advised them to be of
good behavior as they serve as representatives of the country during the Hajj.
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