The first batch of 260 prospective Ghanaian Muslim pilgrims is scheduled to leave Accra for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Friday, October 14, 2011 to perform this year’s Hajj. The first batch is made up of would-be pilgrims who could not perform the Hajj last year because of difficulty in getting visas. In all, 15 flights with Egypt Air will lift the 4,000 Ghanaian Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, which officially begins on November 3, 2011. The last flight leaves Accra on October 24, 2011. The Chairman of the National Hajj Committee (NHC), Alhaji Alhasan Bene, told the Daily Graphic that the pilgrims would first go to Madina to pray in Prophet Muhammed’s Mosque for three days before proceeding to Mecca to await the start of the Hajj rites. Meanwhile, the NHC has started putting up facilities at the Hajj Village, near the El-Wak Stadium, where prospective pilgrims will stay for one or two days and go through immigration and customs screening before departure. Facilities to be provided at the village include separate airconditioned tents for males and females, a clinic, offices for immigration and customs officers, a canteen, washrooms and places for the performance of ablution. The NHC Chairman warned that only prospective pilgrims whose names were published in the media as the next batch to go and accredited persons would be allowed into the Hajj Village. He, therefore, urged prospective pilgrims to stay in their homes and not troop to the village when they had not seen their names in the newspapers or heard them on radio, stressing that “only pilgrims whose names are published and accredited people will be allowed into the Hajj Village”. Alhaji Bene cautioned prospective pilgrims against carrying items such as kola nuts and creams that were prohibited by the Saudi Hajj authorities. He asked Ghanaian pilgrims to promote Ghana’s image in Saudi Arabia by engaging in lawful activities and shunning any illegal acts. The NHC Chairman said his outfit had arranged comfortable accommodation and transportation for the pilgrims both in Mecca and Medina. Besides, he said, doctors and nurses had been engaged to provide medical services, both in Ghana and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and indicated that there would be enough drugs to cater for the health needs of all the pilgrims. After the performance of the Hajj, the first batch of Ghanaian pilgrims is expected to arrive in Ghana on November 20, 2011.