President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned that the Hajj pilgrimage should not be treated as a profit-making venture but rather as a religious and spiritual journey for Muslims.

Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the new Hajj Village on Friday, February 28, the president made it clear that the pilgrimage should not be structured to generate profit.

“I have instructed the taskforce that Hajj is not a business. Hajj is not meant for profit. The Hajj taskforce must not structure things in order to make a profit, we don’t want a profit from Hajj," President Mahama stated.

He emphasised that any surplus funds generated from the Hajj process should be directed towards projects benefiting Muslim communities.

"After the performance of Hajj, if there is even one cedi left, that money should be donated to the poor or used for a project in Muslim communities,” he stated.

President Mahama also announced a revision to the Public Holidays Act to grant an additional holiday for the Muslim celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr.

“I have instructed the legal counsel at the Presidency, Madam Marietta Brew, to amend the Public Holidays Act to provide an extra holiday for Eid-ul-Fitr. Therefore, beginning this year, there will be two days of holiday at the end of Ramadan,” he added.

President Mahama assured that this year’s Hajj will be well-organised, with a strict limit on the number of pilgrims, where he instructed the taskforce to enforce the 5,000-pilgrim limit strictly.

“The taskforce should cut off at exactly 5,000 and not go beyond. We don’t want the previous situation where people rush with late payments, and we are unable to airlift them, leading to complaints,”

“After we pay off the millions of dollars of debt that have accumulated in Saudi Arabia from previous Hajj operations, we intend to airlift exactly 5,000 pilgrims to the holy land. The taskforce has announced 13th March as the deadline for payment. We have facilitated a pre-finance arrangement with a local bank, and as I speak, all deposits for accommodation, transport, and other facilities have been paid,” he explained.

The President explained that a taskforce, led by Alhaji Collins Dauda, was set up to oversee this year’s Hajj due to the short time between the government taking office and the pilgrimage.

“This year, we set up a taskforce to manage the Hajj because after the government took office, we realised that the period between taking office and the Hajj was too close. So we brought competent people together, headed by Alhaji Collins Dauda,” he stated.