Stop wasting our money on pilgrimages

pulse-ghana admin

June 21, 2017 3:08 PM

The impasse between the minister and the public does not appear to have an end in sight as a date has already been set for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

"4 months after 6 children were killed after a building collapsed on them we have not constructed a new one rather we are sponsoring Israel pilgrimage. Eeeeeish my head is even aching!" This comment by Facebook user Joojo Cobbinah sums up the frustration many Ghanaians have felt over the last few days. It was a reference to a tragedy that happened in Bremen Gyambra in the Central Region in January 2017. So it came as a huge surprise for many (nowadays very little surprises us) following a recent decision by the government to 'facilitate' the pilgrimage of 100 Christians to Israel.

The decision has been condemned widely by many Christians and Christian groups as being highly unnecessary. Despite the widespread censure, the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Kofi Dzamesi has been vigorously defending the move in the media.

The government claims to be only facilitating the pilgrimage but many do not believe it. And therein lies, I believe, the core of the problem. Our governments have a long history of dabbling in quite frankly needless activities which have later turned out to become a conduit for corruption.

One needs not go far but to the other such government involvement in a pilgrimage, the Hajj. In March 2017, it was revealed by the National Hajj Board, that the nation had incurred a 24-million-cedi debt to the government of Saudi Arabia because of the annual trips to Mecca.

It begs the question, why should we as a nation be sponsoring people’s vacation. Because, essentially that is what a pilgrimage is. It is a deeply personal journey that one takes time off work to undertake for spiritual purposes. While on pilgrimage, many use it as an opportunity to go shopping and the cost of such a travel should absolutely be fully borne by the person making that journey.

It is very duplicitous especially as the government has previously said that the country is in dire straits. A country that is in need of cash should not be ‘facilitating’ vacations.

Our country has too many needs it cannot afford to be subsidising vacations. We need to do things such as rebuilding deplorable schools such as the one in Breman, entirely new schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and so on. Our country requires bigger aspirations in order to confront our monumental problems and wasting the taxpayers’ money on a vacation is not how to begin to address them.

Despite the periodic outrage that is staged occasionally by the public to such needless expenditures, the government does not appear to be backing down on this.

It only shows evidence of the misplaced priorities of our government and their refusal to listen to the voice of the people. It is time, we as citizens increase the pressure on our government so that they begin to listen to what we want them to do. After all, the president says we should be ‘citizens not spectators’.

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pulse-ghana admin