Disappointed Muslim pilgrims return home

Muslim pilgrims within the premises of the Aviance Cargo Village, near the Kotoka International Airport, who were waiting for a flight to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, have left for their various homes after learning that their trip was no longer possible.

Numbering over 1,000, the pilgrims who had come from all the regions had paid 20 million cedis each for their trip and spent periods ranging from a few days to three weeks within the premises of Aviance Cargo, as they waited for a flight to send them to Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the week, two chartered flights sent about 400 of the stranded pilgrims to the Saudi Arabia, leaving about 1,000. The Ghana News Agency (GNA) discovered that by 1400 hours on Wednesday, the Aviance Cargo premises were almost empty with only a few of the pilgrims packing their belongings.

The pilgrims, who had earlier shown a lot of hope and courage even when their fate was quite bleak, looked quite resigned to their predicament.A pilgrim, Baba, said he together with others had travelled all the way from the Northern Region in three cars."Apart from the money we have paid; just imagine the other expenses and the inconvenience. Now we have to travel all the way back," he said.

One lady said, "I do not have a cedi left. After waiting here for more than one week, I have spent all the money I had. I only pray that I can borrow some money that would enable me to go back to Nsawam where I came from".Asked whether they still hoped to embark upon the pilgrimage the next time round, the pilgrims said they certainly would once they were still alive.

They said what was most important was for the present Hajj Council to be dissolved to make way for a more competent body that would not repeat the same mistakes.During the period of their wait, the pilgrims could make no contact with the Hajj Council Board members. They said while their offices were closed, none of them came to explain the situation to them. The pilgrims described this as most unfortunate since the Council members were directly responsible to facilitate their trip to the Holy Land.

They said they had been informed that their money would be refunded to them in due course.Ghanaian authorities had tried in vain to negotiate with Saudi authorities to extend the time of closure of the Jeddah Airport. By tradition, the Airport is closed to flights a few days to the beginning of the rituals of the Hajj.

Failure by pilgrims to make it to the Holy Land by the deadline means that they would have to abandon the Hajj for that particular year.The National Hajj Council on Wednesday gave up its efforts to fly hundreds of Muslims to Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj because it was unable to secure extension of the deadline for its plane to land in that country.

"The National Hajj Council wishes to inform all prospective pilgrims and the general public that despite the frantic efforts made by the Government and the Mission in Jeddah, unfortunately extension (to land in Jeddah) was not granted,=94 it said in a statement issued in Accra."In view of this, pilgrims cannot be air lifted to the Kingdom to perform this year's Hajj."The statement said a substantial number of pilgrims had already been transported to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj.

The National Hajj Council is consulting all stake holders on the way forward and will provide a full statement on Friday 29th December, 2006 at 1000 hours at the International Press Centre,=94 it said.

The Council reiterates that they will continue to generate relationships with all and sundry, especially the Government and affected pilgrims in order to protect the interests of all,=94 it said.
Source:GNA