The tussle over who has the right to organise Hajj in the country is not showing any sign of ending anytime soon, as factions take entrenched positions.

Whilst the National Hajj Council (NHC) is claiming the sole preserve to organise Hajj in Ghana and therefore asking people to disregard any other group, a National Chief Imam-endorsed Interim Hajj Management Council (IHMC), is contesting that claim and says the committee is credible and, like any other body, has the right to organize Hajj in Ghana.

Words spewed out by both sides on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, leaves very little indication as to whether there could be any possible united front or a compromise reached in organizing the 2008 Hajj.

Alhaji Abdul Manah Abdul Rahaman, a consultant to the National Hajj Council, told the programme host, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, the council is a recognized body by law, authorized by government to organize Hajj in the country with representatives from various Moslem groups including Members of Parliament and even the office of the Chief Imam.

He criticised some members serving on the Chief Imam’s sanctioned committee for allegedly messing up the Council and abandoning it.

“The current Chairman of the Interim Hajj Committee was a chairman in early 2000, which accumulated a debt of 3.7 billion cedis at ADB…then the individuals who supervised last year's hajj debacle, Alhaji Mumuni Sulemana, Ustaz Seidu Ahmed the Chairman, and Dr. Wahab from the office of the Vice President; are members of this very group.

“So what are we going to see, if there is a worse word than the worse, probably that would be used to describe what would be experienced this year.”

Alhaji Abdul Manah partly blamed the government for not living up to it words; and said if it had prosecuted those who previously mismanaged affairs at the Council, “they won’t have come out again and do what they are doing”.

He said the Council has learnt its mistakes now and promised a better service to pilgrims this year.

Alhaji Manah said it has already chartered Antrak Air to convene pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia and assured that “this time people would not be stranded at the air port”.

Alhaji Inusah Usmah Mohammed, Acting Executive Secretary at the Office of the Chief Imam, said the media war would not solve the issue and asked fellow Moslems to put behind any acrimony and confrontations that are drawing them back and forge ahead in whatever they do.

He emphasized that nothing will distract IHMC plans of organizing this year’s Hajj, but noted, the IHMC would only organize it for this year in anticipation of solving the failures that the NHC faces.

Already the Chairman of the reconstituted IHMC, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, has announced that flights for the annual religious exercise starts on November 25, 2008.

He said IHMC has already undertaken the necessary pre-Hajj procedures such as the securing of accommodation and the like.



Story by Isaac Essel