The Government of Ghana will this year airlift four hundred (400) cashless pilgrims to Mecca free of charge, Vice President, John Dramani Mahama has said. According to him, this initiative by government was part of its commitment to help the needy, who have the desire to visit the Holy Land of Mecca, but have no money to pursue their spiritual ambition.

Vice President Mahama was speaking at the official inauguration of the pre-departure camping village for Hajj pilgrims at the El Wak Stadium in Accra, yesterday. According to the Vice President, some diplomatic Embassies as well as individuals and institutions have promised to support the government to successfully execute the programme.

So far, about 30 air tickets have been made available to government, but as to when the distribution of the tickets to the needy will start is not known. The Vice President, however, promised to ensure fairness in the distribution of the air tickets nationwide. "We are going to distribute the tickets nationwide in a fair manner", he noted.

That notwithstanding, he promised the Muslim community of a hustle-free pilgrimmage to Mecca, and assured them that the pre departure village will be in operation to serve Muslims in the coming years as well. "We will operate this pre-departure village every year, so that the pilgrims can use it and stay in comfort, and have their documents checked before they fly out," he said.

The pre-departure village has a capacity to accommodate between 350-400 people, but Vice President Mahama said the Hajj Committee will consider 250 people at a time, in order not to put pressure on the facilities at the village.

According to him, the names of those who will be travelling on each flight would be published in the papers to avoid the difficulties they normally encounter when embarking on their journey to Mecca. The first batch of pilgrims will be airlifted on November 10th 2009.

Mr. Mahama pleaded with the pilgrims to liaise with their travel agents to know the date that they are supposed to report to the pre-departure village, adding "we want to airlift all our pilgrims to the holy land on time this year".

He commended all the Embassies, individuals and institutions who have donated air tickets to government for their kind gesture. He also commended Mr. Joseph Agyapong, Chief Executive Officer of ZoomLion, for providing the pre-departure facility for the Hajj pilgrims. Mr. Amadu Sologo, Member of Parliament (MP) for Abokobi-Madina tasked the pilgrims to ensure good maintenance of the facility.