The Ghana Hajj Board has announced that prospective pilgrims to Mecca this year will pay GH¢75,000 each.
Speaking at a news conference at the Hajj Village in Accra, the Chairman of the Board, Ben Abdallah Banda revealed that over 4,000 Ghanaians are expected to perform this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Abdallah Banda added that the deadline for payment is mid-March.
“When the package was announced last year, we did say that we would maintain the same cost irrespective of whether the Cedi loses its value against the dollar or not. Today, we are happy to announce that we are making good on our promise. The gaps that have cropped up in costing the package will not be borne by the pilgrims”.
“Given the timeline to Hajj and the activities such as the presentation of passports to the board, issuance of visas, and the preparation of flight schedules to and fro, the deadline for the payment of the Hajj fare is mid-March 2024”.
The fares for this year and last year are the same as pilgrims were asked to pay GH¢75,000 for the fare to Mecca in 2023.
The Hajj Board over the years has been refunding money for pilgrims who pay their fares but are unable to make it to Mecca.
It will be recalled that the Ghana Hajj Board, in 2023 refunded monies to over 90 percent of Muslims who could not make their journey to Mecca on a pilgrimage in 2022.