The defunct National Hajj Committee has described as misplaced and ill-informed, the call by the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, on the government to discontinue the sponsorship of Muslims to the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.
The Government on a yearly basis spends money on subvention for Muslims interested in undertaking the religious exercise to cater for their transportation costs, as well as lodging expenses amongst others.
However Prof. Martey contends that funds used for the sponsorship - irrespective of the source - must rather be channeled into development projects in deprived communities.
His comments come on the heels of the controversial issue of the State’s intention to facilitate a pilgrimage of some selected pastors to Israel.
However the Public Relations Officer of the defunct National Hajj Committee, Alhaji Halidu Haruna, has told XYZ News that the Presby moderator’s comments are borne out of his ignorance of the processes involved in the Hajj pilgrimage.
“It’s just like saying that government should put an impediment on the way of the Muslim community from performing your religious rites," he noted.
According to him, correspondence between Hajj authorities in Saudi Arabia and Ghanaian pilgrims are done at the national level and not at the committee level adding that pilgrims are not recognised by Saudi authorities as individual travelers.
Alhaji Halidu Haruna cautioned that any attempt by the government to back out of the organization of the hajj pilgrimage per the modalities put in place by the Saudi Government will put an obstacle in the way of Muslims in performing the hajj.
