Hundreds of the stranded prospective hajj pilgrims had earlier complained that they had no knowledge of when they will travel.
According to the stranded pilgrims, the hajj authorities have deceived them and have left them to the mercy of the weather and other poor living conditions at the hajj village.
“It is pointless for the government to facilitate the smooth departure of flights in Tamale to aid our brethren in the north, while hundreds of passengers remain stranded in Accra under very terrible human conditions and are about to be denied our right to make the dream Holy journey,” a press statement co-signed by the spokesperson and convener for the stranded pilgrims, Mohammed R. Abdul-Rahman and Shehu Alwala Abdi, has said.
The statement added that “If the government is truly committed to ensuring a smooth passage to Hajj for all Muslims, then it should as a matter of urgency come to the aid of those of us who are stranded at the Hajj Village”.
Commenting on the matter, the spokesperson for the Hajj Board, Alhaji Alhassan Sunyini, explained that many of the prospective pilgrims have been left stranded due to challenges with the system being used to process their visas.
“We have yes experienced some delay in the acquisition of the last batch of pilgrims as a result of some system challenges and network challenges because the visas are issued online. Mind you 11 were selected to fly, those 11 have since left but because of the over-subscription, we have made arrangements to get an extra flight which is scheduled to live on Sunday and that was to take care of the delay as a result of the system challenges and network with the last batch of pilgrims that we were working with,” the Hajj Board spokesperson told Radio Ghana.
"So for us, all pilgrims who have had their documents presented to us and processed will be airlifted. It is on record that Ghana has a quota of 5400 and we are making sure that about 5400 are airlifted,” he added.
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