The attention of the Ghana Hajj Board has been drawn to various commentaries being let out regarding the inability of some persons who paid to embark upon the ongoing Hajj but were unable to make it.
While we express concern about the inadvertent development we would be quick to add that a number of factors accounted for the anomaly.
We had just one month to go through the rigours of exhausting the various pre-Hajj procedures and other preparations in Saudi Arabia and Ghana such as meeting with the Minister Of Hajj and Ummrah and other nine service-providing agencies under his watch, bank transfers and even visa acquisitions.
The foregone including bank transfers, visa acquisitions in the face of an oversubscribed demand with a significantly reduced quota of 3,069 from 6000 by the Saudi authorities put us under considerable strain.
The mix-up in the handling of travel documents not forgetting COVID-19 certificates being dropped by some passengers only for some of them to be found when it was too late to be rectified.
There have been genuine requests for refunds but the Hajj Board wishes to appeal to the affected persons that their demands would be immediately addressed after Hajj when the key officials are available for proper reconciliation. Meanwhile the passports of such pilgrims could be retrieved at the Hajj Village.
We sincerely express remorse for the inconvenience caused by the unintended developments which have never happened in our six years of operations.
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