Home At Last But Traumatised

Yesterday 450 Ghanaian pilgrims touched down at the Kotoka International Airport, palpably traumatized by the bloody events that characterized this year's annual religious exercise in Mecca.

At first it was a giant crane which collapsed, killing over a hundred pilgrims. As if that was not enough, there was the misfortune of a fire outbreak in a hotel. Although that did not take the life of any Ghanaian, it sent fears down the spines of our compatriots in Saudi Arabia and their relations at home.

The mother of all the tragedies was the Jamarat Bridge stampede – the worst accident in the history of the annual Hajj rituals – claiming anything between 1,500 and 4,000 lives, depending upon the source of the figures.

Countries such as Iran, Nigeria and others have had cause to complain about the management of the Hajj with the Persians leading the charge. While the former did theirs formally, the latter did it through high-ranking personalities such as the Emir of Kano and his counterpart from Argungu, who vented their frustration and anguish on the pages of newspapers.

It is our demand that when the exact figure of Ghanaian fatalities is established – the current figure of 12 perhaps falling short of the real number the Foreign Affairs Ministry, upon consultation with our Saudi mission indicated – a statement will be issued on the subject.

Such a statement should also play another role of demanding that the Saudi authorities communicate with their Ghanaian counterparts about what really happened and possible compensation for bereaved families. The death of a single person out of the over five thousand who went for the Hajj, is not a mere statistics to be brushed under the carpet, let alone something in excess of ten under circumstances of questionable nature.

We have witnessed the pressure the Iranians have brought to bear on the Saudis and think that while we should not be that brusque in our presentation because of the excellent relationship with the oil-rich country over the years, our government nonetheless owes it a duty to the people of this country, especially the bereaved families, to be seen to be demanding an explanation and compensation of sorts.

We trust that the Foreign Affairs Ministry would deal with this subject in a manner not at variance with the tenets of diplomacy. Not issuing any statement at all or even demanding answers from their Saudi counterparts is not an acceptable option.

Given the fact that many of those who lost their lives could not be preserved any further but had to be quickly interred makes the situation even more worrying for the bereaved families. The closure which comes with knowing where a family member was interred will be long in coming hence, the extended emotional pain that such families would suffer.