Council settles differences on Hajj

Saturday, November 8, 2008 (Page 3 - Mirror)

THE National Hajj Council (NHC) has settled its differences on the organisation of this year’s Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca with the Office of the Vice-President and the National Chief Imam.
Following the agreement among the parties, the NHC will not organise this year’s Hajj, an issue over which it sued the Office of the Vice-President, the National Chief Imam, Alhaji Lumuna Mohammed Muniru of the Ministry of Health and Dr Alhaji Abdul-Wahab Alhassan of the Office of the Vice-President.
The other defendants in the case are Sheik Yunus Osman Mohammed of the Pathology Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Alhaji Osman Kadri English of the Office of the Chief Imam.
The agreement among the parties resulted from an intervention by some Muslim elders who took steps to resolve the matter out of court.
At the Accra Fast Track High Court sitting, a Muslim elder, Alhaji Asuma Banda, informed the court, “I have managed to get the matter settled.”
According to him, all the parties in the case had met at the Chief Imam’s house last Sunday night where it was agreed that the matter should be withdrawn from court.
“I am happy I managed to get the parties to listen to me,” Alhaji Banda, a shipping magnate, told the court.
However, counsel for the NHC, Mr Bright Akwetey, explained that an issue which was still outstanding at the Accra Fast Track High Court concerned the body which had the mandate to organise the Hajj pilgrimage in the country, after the government had handed over the organisation of the pilgrimage in 2005.
He explained that the only aspect of the case which his clients had withdrawn was a prayer for an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the offices of the Vice-President and the National Chief Imam from interfering in the 2008 operations of the Hajj in Ghana.
The plaintiffs had also withdrawn a request for the court to order both offices and the defendants to hand over all arrangements made for the 2008 Hajj to the NHC.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice K. A. Ofori-Atta, then enquired why Mr Akwetey was insisting that there were aspects of the case to be resolved in court.
Replying, Alhaji Banda said, “So far as I am concerned, the case is settled. The Chief Imam has accepted all of us as his children.”
Not satisfied with the explanation, the court directed the parties to draft the said agreement and furnish it with it.
The matter was, accordingly, adjourned to December 1, 2008.
Alhaji English expressed his gratitude to Alhaji Banda for his intervention.
Among the reliefs being sought by the NHC is an order for perpetual injunction to restrain the Office of the National Chief Imam and the defendants from interfering in the activities of the NHC.
In a statement of claim, the NHC is also seeking a declaration by the court that it is the sole and legitimate body charged with the responsibility to organise the Hajj by the Muslim community in Ghana.
The writ, filed on October 2, 2008, is further seeking a declaration that the Interim Hajj Management Committee (IHMC) does not have the mandate of the Muslim community in Ghana to organise Hajj operations, among other reliefs.