The Ghanaian Minaret

Accra- The final flight from Saudi Arabia to Accra safely arrived on Friday night, marking the end of the 2023 Hajj pilgrimage for more than 4000 Ghanaian participants.

The pilgrims, upon arrival, claimed their luggage and were provided packs of Zamzam water as souvenir.

“Alhamdulilah, the 5th and final flight to Accra has safely landed,” the Hajj secretariat announced on its social media handle.

 The process of bringing back the pilgrims to Ghana began on July 10, when the first group of over 400 pilgrims arrived in Tamale from Saudi Arabia.

 Since then, nine additional flights have transported pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to Ghana.

Early on, Alhaji Alhassan Ansari, the Chairman of the Hajj Agents Association said in an interview that the organisation of this year’s Hajj has been top-notch.

“It was only in Mina that I would say we had a few challenges, as we had some intruders joining our camp, depriving us of our abode.

“We also had the challenge of sharing our tent with some pilgrims from Niger, which is quite unfortunate,” he said.

Ghana began its Hajj preparation with the announcement of a reconstituted Hajj Board, which was chaired by Ben Abdallah Banda, who is the Zongo Development Coordinator.

The Board announced a $6500 or GHS75,000 equivalent Hajj fee with an April 30 deadline that was subsequently extended to May 22, 2023.

After intense preparations and orientation programmes for prospective pilgrims, the airlifting of pilgrims started on June 10 in Tamale and ended on June 24, in Accra.