Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale
THE Head of the Anbariyya Sunni Community, Sheikh Saeed Abubakar Zakaria, has called for thorough investigations into the circumstances that have led to this year’s Hajj fiasco and to find lasting solutions to the recurrent problems.
He also demanded that the report on the findings should be made public. These were contained in a statement signed and issued to the press in Tamale by the leader of the community.
‘‘It is an indictment on the part of the Interim Hajj Management Committee not to have learnt from the mistakes of the last year that left over 400 prospective pilgrims stranded and unable to make the journey,’’ Sheikh Zakaria stated.
He also called for a national conference of Muslims to brainstorm on how to prevent subsequent problems in the management of Hajj affairs in the country.
He stressed that being one of the five pillars of Islam, it was the wish of every Muslim to embark on the pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime.
‘‘It will therefore be a terrible disappointment if the dreams of these prospective pilgrims are not fulfilled as a result of the negligence of some people entrusted with the task’,’ Sheikh Zakaria pointed out.
He appealed to the President to consider the situation as a national crisis and personally intervene to ensure that all the 2,700 prospective pilgrims made the journey to Saudi Arabia to observe the Hajj this year.
The leader described the prevailing conditions under which the prospective pilgrims were living as dehumanising, thus making pilgrimage from Ghana look like punishment rather than a reward.
‘‘The annual problems are an embarrassment to all Ghanaians, especially the government and Muslims, and it is time to put things in the right way,’’ he stated.
Sheikh Zakaria says the performance of Hajj is not an emergency and that it could be organised successfully when the right people are given the responsibility for its management.
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