Aliu Mahama challenged to clear name of Hajj charges

The General Secretary of the Ahlussunna Wal-Jama Islamic sect, Sheik Yakoub S. Abban, has entreated Vice President Aliu Mahama to wash himself from accusations that he exploits the annual pilgrimage to Mecca for personal gains. Sheik Abban told a Network Herald reporter it would not be in the political interest of the Vice President to continue to treat the accusations with contempt when in the heat of every Hajj in recent times, problems that crop up are constantly placed at his doorstep with some persons speculating that he benefits from all the hajj committees. He said his Nima-Mamobi community was awash with rumours that the Vice President benefited a house donation from which he run his party primaries campaign during the NPP congress, which he said, is a worrying piece of speculation. Sheik Abban said because Alhaji Aliu is by any stretch of the imagination one of the stalwarts of the Moslem community and the second most important person on Ghana soil, if such image-denting information continue to make the rounds without any hint of a reaction from his outfit, wrong signals are unleashed. "I would like to use this medium to appeal to him that he should come out to clear his name so that if it were people in his office using his name to perpetrate this bad habit we will know them and serve as deterrent to others," the Sheik implored. He questioned why the situation should be so when for the first time in the history of the country a Moslem has the opportunity to become Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. He pleaded with those who employ the name of the Vice President for "ungodly things" to acknowledge that any as far as the Hajj is concerned could affect him as a person as much as the entire Moslem community. The Sheik also called on both the dissolved and current Hajj committees to submit themselves to probity and accountability, alleging that the thousands of dollars pilgrims were forced to pay was mismanagement. "As of yesterday there were some Ghanaian pilgrims who were stranded at the Jeddah Airport living under the benevolence of others because all their money is finished", he alleged. He welcomed the successful intervention of government but charged that it was the tax payer's money that had to be used for that purpose, hence the need for all those associated with its organisation to account to Ghanaians. Contributing, the Imam of the Nima-441 Central Mosque, Sheik Yosuff Tahir Kuta decried government interventions in the organisation of the Hajj as a means of ensuring that their Moslem followers get the opportunity to embark on the Hajj, sometimes through very foul means. Sheik Kuta said it is about time Moslems were allowed to carry out their religious obligations such as the Hajj without any government interference. He warned government to choose carefully which religious aspects it interferes with to avoid hardships.