Hajj 2023 Advance Team Off To Saudi2 min read
An 18-member team of Ghana Hajj Board Secretariat officials yesterday emplaned for Saudi Arabia to prepare the grounds for the arrival for the main body of Ghanaian pilgrims.
The movement of advance teams to Saudi Arabia ahead of the arrival of pilgrims from Ghana is standard Hajj season practice.
The team is led is by Dr. Yunusah Mohammed aka Oluman, who has led advance teams for the past few years.
Having studied in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he is conversant with the country and the Hajj process.
One of the tasks of the advance team would be preparing accommodation of the pilgrims and to ensure that such facilities are not usurped by illegal Ghanaian immigrants in Saudi Arabia and others who are not holding Hajj visas but Ummrah and tourist.
Such persons who manage to swarm the camp of Ghanaian pilgrims deprive the Ghana Hajj Board registered persons, and putting a strain on the logistics management of the operation.
With Saudi authorities already rounding up some of such persons and the resolve of the Ghana Hajj Board Secretariat to descend upon such visa abusers, this year is set to be unlike the previous ones.
Before their departure, the leader the team, Dr. Oluman said “our assignment upon arrival is to ensure that accommodation, transportation and feeding arrangements of the main body of pilgrims are in place. When pilgrims arrive, we should be on hand to transport them from the Madina Airport to Mecca for the attendant rituals. The same procedure would be replicated for the return trip to Ghana through Jeddah.”
In a related development, the pre-departure orientation for would-be pilgrims earlier scheduled to take place tomorrow at the Hajj Village has been moved to the National Mosque, Accra, according to the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Hajj Board Secretariat, Alhaji Farouk Hamza.
The decision, he said, was to ensure the comfort of registered would-be pilgrims which the new location offers.
“The National Mosque where a similar exercise was held earlier for the passengers of the Al Balad Travel and Tours Limited is more accessible than the Hajj Village, hence the decision to change the venue to that place. We cherish the comfort and convenience of our pilgrims,” he said.
Stakeholders, made up of representatives of entities, would be led by the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Hajj Board Secretariat to inspect the Hajj Village today to determine its readiness ahead of the commencement of flights.
