The deadline for the payment of fares for Muslims who wish to embark on\u00a0this year\u2019s holy pilgrimage to Mecca, has been extended.<\/p>\n
The new date for payment of the Hajj fares is Friday July 23.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”n2I315bOqSIWfM7yQEQM5cbB6qBoDPDD”]The National Hajj Board had earlier announced that, Muslims who had failed to register for this year\u2019s Hajj before last Friday’s deadline, would\u00a0forfeit their chances of going on the pilgrimage\u00a0.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Citi News<\/strong>, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the National Hajj Committee, Alhaji Mohammed Amin Lamptey, said at the time that\u00a0\u201cin March this year, we came out with a release indicating the starting of payment for Hajj 2016 and a deadline of 15th July 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the\u00a0Pilgrims Affairs of Ghana (PAOG), has extended the Hajj fare payments to Friday, July 23, 2016, following appeals by prospective \u00a0pilgrims who had been unable to meet the initial deadline.<\/p>\n A statement signed by the Administrative Secretary of the PAOG, Alhaji Mohammed Osman Manaf, urged pilgrims to make their way to any\u00a0UniBank branch across the country and make the necessary payments as there won’t be any more extensions.<\/p>\n Muslims to be airlifted to Mecca<\/strong><\/p>\n The decision to airlift pilgrims from the Tamale Airport to Mecca,\u00a0was taken\u00a0by the Hajj Board to prevent a reoccurrence of past challenges that undermined previous trips to the holy city.<\/p>\n Prospective candidates must have a biometric passport and must pay $3,450 or its equivalent of GH\u00a211, 900 to be deemed to have completed the registration process.<\/p>\n Over 5,000 Muslims are expected to leave Ghana for the Hajj in Saudi Arabia this year.<\/p>\n Security\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The\u00a0National Hajj Board has also expressed its commitment to ensuring the safety of pilgrims travelling from the country.<\/p>\n Alhaji Lamptey stated that, a new strategy had been developed \u201cwhere you have some gadget that each and every pilgrim will have that will help to identify pilgrims\u201d.<\/p>\n He explained that the\u00a0the gadget would be used to monitor the activities of pilgrims.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, pilgrims in the three regions of the north will travel direct from the Tamale Airport to Mecca, while those in the south will depart from the Kotoka International Airport.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The deadline for the payment of fares for Muslims who wish to embark on\u00a0this year\u2019s holy pilgrimage to Mecca, has been extended. The new date for payment of the Hajj fares is Friday July 23. [contextly_sidebar id=”n2I315bOqSIWfM7yQEQM5cbB6qBoDPDD”]The National Hajj Board had earlier announced that, Muslims who had failed to register for this year\u2019s Hajj before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":232256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n