The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has disclosed that two Ghanaian pilgrims from his constituency who traveled for the 2025 Hajj remain unaccounted for; weeks after the pilgrimage ended.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, July 17, 2025, Ayariga expressed worry over the development.

He pointed out some challenges many Ghanaian pilgrims face when participating in Hajj.

“Mr Speaker, I cannot account for two of my pilgrims; two of them as we speak. I can show you, my phone. I'm calling our consular officer there to help us to find out where they are because some of them are very old people," he lamented.

Mahama Ayariga explained that the situation is particularly difficult due to language barriers and the overwhelming number of pilgrims.

“You go to an event where there are over one million people attending. They are not educated, they don't speak the local language, they don't speak Arabic. So, it's becoming very challenging. This is the first time many of them are traveling outside Ghana,” he remarked.

According to Ayariga, some pilgrims often get mixed up with delegations from other countries or fall ill and are taken to hospitals, after which they become difficult to trace.

“Some fall sick and cannot be found; they may have been taken to the hospital. So, after the Hajj, we cannot account for our people," Ayariga stated.

He urged Parliament to consider introducing a legislation to review the national Hajj operations.

“I have always said that perhaps it is time for this House—as a Parliament and also as a country, for us to have a legislation on Hajj instead of it just being a committee.

"But I think also that whatever it is, when there's an issue in a foreign country, you call your Minister of Foreign Affairs to answer," he noted.

More than 6,000 Ghanaian pilgrims undertook the 2025 Hajj, joining more than two million Muslims globally.

According to the Ghana Hajj Board, seven (7) Ghanaian pilgrims who took part in the 2025 pilgrimage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia passed away.

The deceased comprise five women and two men.

JKB/VPO

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