The National Hajj Council has expressed dissatisfaction with government interference in the activities of Hajj. The Council said government officials are in Saudi Arabia to attend the 2008/2009 pre-Hajj Conference conducted by the Saudi Authority without prior knowledge of the Council. The Executive Secretary of the Council, Alhaji Salifu Seidu who made this known at a news conference in Accra said the era of government officials handpicking individuals and imposing them on the Muslim community as Hajj organizers is over. He said government should not limit the role of the Council to only diplomatic facilitation. Alhaji Seidu said the Council will not be able to stop the Muslim community from demonstrating if government does not stop its interference. The Executive Secretary explained that although the Council supported the action by government to institute a probe into the activities of the Interim Hajj Management Committee and arrest the organizers of the 2007/2008 Hajj, nothing has been done for the past six months.
He noted that this has caused the Council a debt of GHC 400,000. The National Chairman of the Council, Sheikh Mohammed Kamil Mohammed advised prospective pilgrims not to rush in paying monies to any group or individual until the Council comes out with a package for this year’s Hajj.
