Ghana Muslim Academy calls for permanent secretariat for Hajj Council
Alhaji Adam Yunus, Deputy General Secretary of Ghana Muslim Academy (GMA), has called for a permanent secretariat to enable the Hajj Council to bring to an end challenges confronting hajj organisation.
Alhaji Yunus said this on Sunday at the 15th M.A. Mujahid Annual Ramadan Lectures on the theme: “Hajj and its organisational complexities in Ghana, the way forward”.
He said the Hajj Council had no permanent secretariat and structures across the country thus it had affected its operations, including pilgrims.
“The Council is also faced with self afflicted problem such as suspicion, animosity, and enmity and there is also the availability of hajj agents who also contribute to the problems,” Alhaji Yunus said.
He said political interference where government appointed adhoc members to serve on the Hajj Board also affected its operations.
He added that government should only serve as a facilitator in the pilgrimage to Mecca and to allow Muslims to wholly own it.
Alhaji Yunus said there should be a blue print for the Hajj Council to guide its operations as well as streamline the role of agents to protect unsuspecting pilgrims.
“The Hajj Council also needs an effective and transparent leader and there should be a sustained education to change the attitude of pilgrims to make the spiritual journey successful,” he said.
Alhaji Abdulai Baba Issah, Chief Executive Officer of ABI Consult and Chairman for the occasion commended GMA for organising the lectures, which he described as insightful and interactive.
He urged the Muslim Community, especially the working class to make contributions in order to get seed money to pre-finance Hajj.
Alhaji Nurudeen Alhassan, President of GMA, said the Academy’s core objective was to promote intellectual discourse among various religious groups in the country with particular emphasis on religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence as well as providing humanitarian services to the needy and the deprived.
He called on Muslims across the country to pray for Ghana, especially as the nation awaits the ruling by the Justices of the Supreme Court on the 2012 Election Petition.
Source: GNA