Please permit me space in your widely circulated news medium to elaborate on my experience with the Presidential Hajj task Force 2024.
Allow me to express my gratitude to all of the Hajj task force members, especially the Chairman, Alhaji Murtada Sesay, and the deputy minister of social welfare, Alhaji Haji Kalla, for their outstanding roles throughout the process. I'm not sure how some committee members view the hajj committee, but they seem to believe that the institution should rely entirely on the government rather than generate its own funding and its seems its business as usual.
That being said, there are certain shortcomings that must be addressed immediately in order to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future. This year’s hajj has send a good signal that we lead so much countries in organizing the hajj, as have established numerous procedures, and provide so much amenities that pilgrims have paid for; however, if we do not keep track of our strengths and weaknesses, it will be difficult for us to build on our weaknesses and maintain our strengths.
My first interaction with committee occurred when I was attempting to help about seven (7) Sierra Leoneans who were staying in the United States and wanted to pass through Sierra Leone. After filling out the forms I went to the secretariat at Kingtom, I asked for a payment form, but they refused, stating that a person must provide their passport before receiving a payment slip. Upon reaching out to the chairman, Alhaji Murtada Sesay, I was informed that payment was still required even though the passport had not been submitted. The secretariat refused to issue a payment slip if the passport was not submitted, citing their own policies.
In my opinion, everybody who is a Sierra Leonean has the right to pay regardless of their passport, and payments can be made in instalments so that everyone would benefit, even if they are planning to perform the Hajj in subsequent year. There should be a Hajj Scheme account rather than a yearly account.
My second interaction was when they wanted to make the payment before the deadline. I contacted the chairman, Alhaji Murtada Sesay, and he informed me that they could make online payments to their dollar account at Sierra Leone Commercial Bank. However, to my dismay, when I went to the bank, a teller informed me that I couldn't make an online payment unless the person sent me 7,000 dollars in notes, in which case I could make a physical payment.
I was baffled, in this era of technological advancement, digitization, and e-commerce; our SLCB bank is stating that online payments are not possible. I wonder where this is leading us. I seem to recall that I personally lobbied for Sierra Leone to be eTrade Ready during the E-Commerce meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, and we're still talking about cash payments.
I firmly feel that online payment for the Hajj should be an option offered by Sierra Leone Commercial Bank.
These two submissions, in my opinion, will make it more likely that the government will attempt to view the hajj as a means of raising money for itself rather than spending enormous sums of money on it in the name of scholarships, which would result in a higher number of paid up participants rather than scholarships.
This would also reduce the number of scammers as one of the people attempting to pay in Sierra Leone was tricked by scammer in the USA. We can also observe that scammers are becoming more prevalent in Sierra Leone as some individuals travelled through Guinea while performing the Hajj using a visitor's visa.
This year's Hajj saw only one fatality for Sierra Leone, which truly demonstrates that with more work, more individuals will choose to travel with the Sierra Leone contingent over those from other nations. With that said, let me extend my heartfelt gratitude to the members of the Hajj Committee and say congratulations to them.
