Gainako has confirmed that several Gambians who were awarded Hajj tickets to perform the 2015 Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca were denied visa entries to Saudi Arabia. The annual Hajj ticket allocation which has turned political and created a lot of division within the population has been a hot topic in Gambia this year. The controversial ticket allocation appears to have brought a lot of embarrassment to many families this year especially when they announced to their families, relatives and friends that they are going to perform the Hajj only to not be able to secure Visa.
Reliable reports from family members reaching Gainako indicated that the would be Pilgrims were supposed to depart Banjul the the second week of September.However, due to Jammeh’s over allocation of the Hajj tickets amounting to almost 275 people which exceeds the quota of visas Gambia was permitted the Saudi government out rightly denied the extra Visas. According to the Gambian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mr. Omar Gibril Sallah Gambia has a quota of 1,500 pilgrims permitted for entry in Saudi. Majority of Gambian Pilgrims are performing the Hajj through private family funding especially those whose children or relatives are in the Diaspora. It has become a huge pride for Gambians in the Diaspora to sponsor their parents and families to perform the Hajj.
It is noted that due to millions of Muslims performing the Hajj every year the Saudi authorities have been forced to cut Visas to certain nations to minimize potential accidents due to over crowding. Readers may recalled that an incident last week killed over 100 people and injuring several others when a construction crane crashed over the Grand Mosqid in Mecca. The incident attracted world wide news and condemnations on the Saudi government questioning why such a construction would be allowed to continue during the busiest time in Mecca. Subsequently the Saudi authorities were forced to halt the construction.
Additional reports from families in Banjul indicated that President Jammeh was highly agitated on Saudi authorities denial of the Visas. He in fact reportedly sent a special delegation headed by the leader of the supreme Islamic Council and the Director of GIA to Senegal and Guinea Bissau to try to secure visas for these aspiring Pilgrims. Jammeh had also planned on using his own airplane to uplift Gambians to Mecca. Embarrassingly he could neither secure the visas in Senegal or Bissau nor was he able to transport people on his own.
This is reported to have made President Jammeh very angry at the Saudi authorities and it is likely to create rift between him and the Saudi Authorities. Jammeh is also reported to be facing a lot of tension as these events including the ECOWAS meeting that took place next door to him which he choose not to attend for obvious reasons. The upcoming UN general Assembly in New York is another headache Jammeh is dealing with which also coincides with the damning Human Rights Reports released by Human Rights Watch . To say that the Gambian leader is under tremendous pressure supposedly by his own doing is an understatement.
Apart from the huge embarrassment the would be pilgrims are facing for announcing their excitement about the trip, Jammeh is further proofing that his poor international relationship dealings is coming back to hunt him. It is widely becoming evidence that the Gambian leader continue to isolate himself and the Gambian nation from almost all aspects of governance. It is likely that those who have been praise singers of the President and as a result allocated tickets to Mecca may begin to lose confidence in the leadership of the President. Jammeh is likely to shift the blame on somebody for the mishap on the tickets. It will not be surprising if some heads roll after the Hajj even though it may not be the fault of anyone other than the President who continue to politicize this holy trip and over allocate tickets.