The Minister of Internal Affairs, Varney Sirleaf, rubbishes accusations by the political leader of the All Liberian Coalition Party (ALCOP) Lusine Kamara that he (Sirleaf) is working against his (Kamara's) political ambition.
"Mr. Kamara is a Muslim; he's my kinsman. I'm not against his political ambition; instead, I'm against his refusal to allow the government to regulate the process leading to the Hajj",
Addressing a news conference over the weekend at his office in Monrovia, Minister Sirleaf he doesn't hold onto any potter, as alleged by Mr. Kamara, but if people failed to do the right thing then they resort to making false accusations.
Last week, Mr. Lusine Kamara, who's also a former Minister of Finance during the transitional era, held a news conference and appealed to Muslims, particularly more than 40 individuals from Lofa County, who were unable to attend this year's Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia because of poor travel arrangement.
According to him, the travel agency, Songhy, was untenable to send the over 40 Muslim pilgrims to Mecca this year because of the cancellation of the contract with Grace Jet Company based in Saudi Arabia.
"I want to appeal to all those who couldn't make it to go for this year's Hajj through our organization. This is due to some political and personal reasons that the chairman of the hajj, Minister Varney Sirleaf has with me because I am a political leader of a party," he disclosed.
The ALCOP leader continued that he received information that it was through influence of Minister Sirleaf that the contract was terminated with promise to refund money paid.
He said they are contemplating taking legal action against the Grace Jet Company and whoever was involved with the cancellation of the agreement.
But responding, Minister Sirleaf says contrary to false claims by Mr. Kamara, over the past 10 years, there has been problem with the Hajj, including poor arrangements and often deliberate attempt by some Hajj agencies to deny other agencies, which triggered government's intervention.
He explains that based on the frustration and numerous complaints, poor care, and as part of a control system, the Government of Liberia decided to put in place a system to regulate agencies instead of being left alone to regulate themselves.
According to the Minister, Mr. Kamara unfortunately last year refused to honor the system introduced by the government and instead, went ahead to use his (Kamara's) system which was allegedly characterized by money laundering and investigated by the Saudi government.
He says the Government of Liberia then established a Hajj committee to regulate the process and provide a level-plain field to all agencies to recruit pilgrims, adding the government did that only because of Mr. Kamara's refusal to honor the system.
Sirleaf continues that despite all efforts by the Muslim council and the government to coordinate the Hajj affairs, Mr. Kamara was still undermining every plan, including contract signed by the team that went to Saudi Arabia, saying the ALCOP political leader began entering into separate contracts outside the generally accepted contractor.
He reveals that in February this year, United Oumara and Hajj operated by Mr. Amadu Mayoubah Sheriff sponsored a team of Hajj committees comprising the National Muslims Council that traveled to Saudi Arabia without government knowledge and signed a contract with a service provider.
"Let this be known that every time his contractors were checked, they were not registered in Saudi as Tewafa company; this 2023, the Saudi government dealt with Tewafa company only.
I want to encourage Mr. Kamara to refrain from making false claims and attacking my personality; as Minister of Internal Affairs and a Muslim to be precise, I think we should all be extending gratitude to President Weah for his continuous support towards our people", Minister Sirleaf notes.
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He details that this year's Hajj, there are 354 Liberian Muslims currently in Saudi Arabia attending the annual religious exercise, adding that President Weah provided waiver for the flight that costs about US$75,000.
He also dismisses allegation by Mr. Kamara that he had money in the portal, but was denied access, explaining that last year, a total of US$376,000 was paid in the portal, with US$265,000 of the amount allotted for 50 Muslims from the national hajj committee.
The Minister adds that while the balance of US$111,000 was Mr. Kamara's, the service provider only identified as Lamine informed him that Mr. Kamara had instructed him (Lamine) to utilize this amount of money for this year's hajj.
