Government to set up National Pilgrimage Board

The government is to come up with a National Pilgrimage Board (NPB) to manage the organisation of Hajj in the country.

President John Dramani Mahama said the NPB would be a permanent body with professional staff to inject more efficiency in the organisation of the annual pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He said the work of the NPB would be regulated by a set of legislations.

President Mahama dropped the hint Monday during a courtesy call on him by the National and Regional Imams and members of the National Council of Zongo Chiefs at the Flagstaff House.

The members, including the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, the Imam of the Ahlussunna Wal Jama'a, Sheikh Umar Ibrahim Imam, regional Imams and chiefs, were at the Flagstaff House to congratulate President Mahama on his ascension to the high office of the President and to assure him of their support.

The President noted that the organisation of Hajj by the former National Hajj Committee (NHC) had improved significantly in the last few years. Therefore, he said, the decision to dissolve the NHC, which he arrived at in consultation with the National Chief Imam, was a difficult one.

He said despite the improvement in the organisation of the Hajj, he still believed that the country could do better.

Touching on education, President Mahama said the people of the Zongos and the north lagged behind in education because of the low level of education in those communities.

He, therefore, stressed the need for the people in the Zongos and the north to give priority to the education of their children.

He gave the assurance that the government would also support the education of the people in the Zongos to move them out of poverty.

The President said the government would give a face-lift to the Zongos in terms of improvement in sanitation and access to roads and social services.
That, he said, would improve the living conditions of the people in the Zongos.

President Mahama indicated that the government had requested the Wast Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) to make Arabic an examinable subject in schools.
He said he would direct the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to rehabilitate and build new schools for the Islamic Education Unit.

The President asked the youth in Zongos to take advantage of the youth entrepreneur programmes to gain employable skills.
He said the youth could learn trade, such as electronics and carpentry and become employable.

President Mahama commended religious leaders for maintaining dialogue and peaceful coexistence, asked them to keep it up.

He said Ghana had contributed personnel from the Engineers Regiment of the military to support efforts at restoring normalcy to Mali and urged the Muslim community not allow individuals to pollute their minds, regarding Ghana's role in the Mali situation.

President Mahama thanked the Muslim and Zongo communities for their continuous support for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and assured them that the government would not take that for granted.

The Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Alhaji Gado Mohammed, mentioned high illiteracy rate as one of the major problems in the Zongos, and asked the government to try to reverse the trend.

He commended President Mahama for his collaboration with and support for the Zongos when he was the Vice-President, and expressed the hope that the support would be increased now that he was the President.

The Spokesperson of the National Council of Zongo Chiefs, Chief Imoro Baba Issa, called for a concerted effort to promote education in the Zongos.
He said some traditional authorities had included Zongo chiefs on their councils, and stressed the need for others to follow suit. 

Story by Musah Yahaya Jafaru