Founder of the All People’s Congress (APC), Dr Alhaji Hassan Ayariga has commended the Ghana Hajj Board for organising this year’s Hajj pilgrimage so well.
Despite widespread criticism from some pilgrims about accommodation arrangements among other pertinent issues, Dr Ayariga who is also performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage, believes the concerns are isolated and called for commendation of the Board.
In an exclusive interaction with TV3 News on June 7, Dr Ayariga expressed satisfaction with the Ghana Hajj Board, indicating that some of the challenges that confront pilgrims could be blamed on the Saudi authorities.
“The last hajj performed, had over 3,000 pilgrims. This year alone, the figures I’m told is around 6,000 and so this is the first time Ghana is actually performing hajj with doubled numbers but let me be sincere with you, the Hajj board has managed these numbers really well.”
“In Accra, the time they gave us for departure, the flight took off almost the same time.”
“So yes, a few challenges but I cannot attribute them to the Hajj Board entirely, because there are bound to be hitches -this country (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) you decide with them and when they make mistakes or delay the process, they don’t even apologize because they have millions of people taking part in the hajj rituals simultaneously. So they don’t see your case as exceptional,” he added.
While commending the Hajj Board, Dr Ayariga also urged participants to remain committed to uplifting and protecting the image of Ghana and appealed for appropriate means of seeking redress to challenges that confront them while in Saudi.
“I see and hear certain people write a lot of things about the issue of one or two people not having at the right time, what they requested -I mean, 6,000 Ghanaians, you expect everyone to be satisfied under this condition?” he questioned.
At the personal level, Dr Ayariga expressed excitement over having the opportunity to perform the annual hajj rituals.
He indicated that top of his prayer request and supplications to the Almighty Allah, is for Ghana to remain peaceful at all times to drive the country’s developmental process while consolidating its democratic gains.
