Hajj agents want pilgrims to fly from Tamale

22/08/09

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
HAJJ agents in the northern sector have appealed to the government to make it possible for prospective pilgrims in the three regions of the north to embark on their journey to Jeddah from the Tamale Airport.
By that arrangement, they said, they would be able to avoid the ordeal that prospective pilgrims from those regions went through by travelling down to Accra and sleeping under dehumanising conditions at the Aviance Village for days before departing to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The spokesperson for the Hajj agents, Alhaji Ayana Yakubu, told the Daily Graphic that it was possible to fly pilgrims from the Tamale Airport since a similar arrangement was effected in the 1970s.
He said the Tamale Airport had all the facilities and personnel to handle the departure formalities of the pilgrims.
Alhaji Ayana said, for instance, that competent personnel from the Ghana Civil Aviation, the Immigration Service and the Customs Excise and Preventive Service were stationed at the Tamale Airport.
In terms of proximity, he said the Tamale Airport was closer to the Jeddah Airport (five hours) than the Kotoka International Airport (six hours).
Alhaji Ayana, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Ayana Hajj Travel and member of the Ghana Hajj Agents Association (GHAA), told the Daily Graphic that in addition to prospective pilgrims from the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Region, those from the Brong Ahafo could also fly from the Tamale Airport to Jeddah, if the arrangement was made.
He said about 1,500, representing 50 per cent of the about 3,000 Ghanaian pilgrims, were from the three regions of the north and the Brong Ahafo Region.
Alhaji Ayana said prospective pilgrims from those areas were compelled under the current circumstances to come down to Accra and often got “stranded” at the Aviance Village for some days before leaving for the pilgrimage.
He said the plight of the pilgrims would be greatly reduced if they were made to take off from the Tamale Airport.
“Flying the pilgrims direct from the Tamale Airport to Jeddah will reduce the tension and difficulty that the pilgrims go through,” he stressed.