We’re On Course, Says IC Quaye

With just nine days to the take-off of the maiden flight for Hajj 2017 scheduled for Tamale, the Chairman of the Ghana Hajj Board, Sheikh IC Quaye has said that everything is on course for a smooth airlift to and from Saudi Arabia.

His optimism is hinged upon what he said are the initiatives he and his team have unfurled so far. The prognosis, he said, are good hence his optimism he told DAILY GUIDE.

“We are on course to deliver on our mandate as demanded of us by both President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia,” he said.

Recounting the myriad of interventions initiated to reduce to the barest minimum the perennial hassle of the Hajj, he said “we are confident that our initiatives would go a long way in reducing the number of persons who come and stay at the Hajj Village for days on end not knowing when their flights would take off or eliminate it entirely because through the leverage of IT, prospective pilgrims would have an idea about their flight dates.”

In the area of passport acquisition he sounded positive about the gains chalked when he said “the facilitation of the acquisition of the Ghanaian passport by prospective pilgrims by the Hajj Board has reduced the otherwise challenges associated with obtaining the travel document.”

The Ghana Hajj Board has initiated an arrangement with the director of passports for an expedited management of passport applications for Hajj pilgrims while simultaneously ensuring that only Ghanaians are issued with the security document which as the Chairman said “remains the property of the Ghana Government.”

The dividends from the initiative has led to the elimination of the usual inconveniences and even delayed issuance of passports and the attendant compounding of the Hajj airlift processes.

Prospective pilgrims only need to present their duly completed forms at the Hajj village if they don’t have any and the remaining processes will be taken over by assigned Hajj officials.

A cross section of prospective pilgrims have told DAILY GUIDE that they are optimistic about the prospects of a smooth Hajj given the arrangements laid out by the Ghana Hajj Board under the leadership of Sheikh IC Quaye.

“The constant interaction between the Hajj Board and the accredited agents who account for most of the pilgrims who embark on the pilgrimage has engendered transparency in the Hajj process,” the Chairman has disclosed.

Earlier, the Hajj Board embarked on an engagement programme with stakeholders in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale – a novelty which won the hearts of imams and the general Muslim population because as one of the attendees noted “it offered us an opportunity to listen to the Hajj Board and for us to render our suggestions, a two-way communication whose dividend are far-reaching.”

In the realm of medical delivery, the Hajj Board in consultation with the Head of the Medical Unit, Dr. Seidu Zakaria unfurled a medical screening programme whose details are being fed into a data base to be accessed when the need arises, the Chairman said.

“This way, the medical team would be primed sufficiently to manage medical conditions in Saudi Arabia” he said adding that a permanent Hajj Village Clinic has been erected to enhance the operation of medical delivery.

There is a massive infrastructural development ongoing at the Hajj Village all of which are intended to give comfort to both prospective pilgrims and others who have some businesses to transact at the Hajj Village.

Six flights are scheduled for Tamale; the first being 10th August 2017 which would end on 16th August 2017 followed by the Accra flights.

The Accra flights would commence on 17TH August and end on 21st August 2017.

Sheikh IC Quaye marked his 81st birthday yesterday with the recitation of the Holy Quran at his residence.