Government Must Support Pilgrimages

Government's plan to support the pilgrimage of Christians to Israel is as instructive as it is commendable. Coming at a time when a so-called government sponsorship of Muslims and the construction of a national Cathedral have been thrown up on the public space as a constitutional breach, it offers an interesting subject for public discourse, objectively of course.

This way, the proper role of government to her citizens in the various spheres of life can be better defined so things can be put in their right perspectives and the rabble–rousing reaction to these matters confined to the backburners permanently.

The government support being referred to might not be the literary doling out of monies to pilgrims to cater for their daily needs while in the Holy Land or even the acquisition of aircraft to convey the faithful to and from Israel and Saudi Arabia, but the facilitation of the trip through various state interventions. This comes in various forms, one of which being the setting up a body for the facilitation of such trips which as it is being showed in the Israel pilgrimage under review, a government to government engagement.

Such a government to government interface is an essential factor in such matters without which the movements of large numbers of citizens for convergence on one geopolitical location will be blocked by diplomatic bottlenecks.

While we doff our hats for government's decision on the pilgrimage to Israel, we acknowledge that it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that members of the various religious persuasions practise their faiths without let or hindrance. That is constitutional as enshrined in the written document of the country.

It is our position that given the large number of persons traveling almost simultaneously to a foreign land where they would live for close to or even a month, it would be an act of irresponsibility not to be involved in such matters. A government's indifference to such religious arrangements can only expose her to diplomatic ridicule. Such mass movements of people cannot in any way be likened to trips to national parks.

We must commend the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs for the initiative and to ask those who due to personal idiosyncrasies and other factors, would rather the over 5,000 or so Muslim pilgrims should do so without a government cover must rethink their logic and general understanding of such matters.

In creating the enabling environment for such religious activities to take place, international best practices must be adhered to.

Since government funds must be expended in such activities as in the case of providing secretariats and the provision of consular services inter alia as it were, proper management of these must be ensured because experience has showed that there is the tendency for those put in-charge to treat these without recourse to proper management methods.

We have observed the pains taken by government to ensure that the indebtedness incurred by the previous political administration does not prevent Muslims from performing this year's Hajj. We have also learnt about how efforts are being made to ensure that whoever dipped their hands into funds not belonging to them are made to account for these in the spirit of accountability.