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In what appears to be a dent to a very well organized hajj this year, about four hundred Ghanaian pilgrims have reportedly been left stranded in Saudi Arabian cities of Medina and Mecca due to delay in flight arrangements. The Pilgrims were originally scheduled to leave Saudi Arabia for Ghana on Friday, 11thof December, 2009 but after one week of camping in Medina and Mecca, there are no visible signs that they will be flying to Accra anytime soon. Kabo Airlines, a privately owned Nigerian Airline which was supposed to fly them to Ghana has incessantly failed to air lift the Ghanaian pilgrims; choosing rather to give priority to their Nigerian counterparts. To salvage the situation, some pilgrims who spoke to Citifmonline.com from Medina said, the leadership of the Hajj committee promised to ensure that they were transported to Accra by Kabo Airlines by Tuesday, October, 15 2009 but yet again the Nigerian airlines failed to show up. The Hajj committee, according to Citi FM�s Moro Awudu, who is among the stranded pilgrims, has promised to secure another airline by name Sama Airlines to air lift them to Ghana. It is however not clear when the deal with the privately owned Spanish airline will yield any result. The situation has led to very dire financial consequences for the pilgrims, some of who have to practically queue for food and water. Many of the stranded Pilgrims, knowing they had very little time to spend in Saudi Arabia spent all their money to ensure that they do not return the little Saudi Riyal left on them to Ghana. The unexpected delay in flight arrangements has therefore left them penniless and as a result they have had to survive on the philanthropy of some Saudi Arabian nationals. Some of the victims, who spoke to Citifmonline.com, blamed the situation on poor leadership from members of Ghana�s Hajj committee. They claimed that when the situation became unbearable, about 13 members of the Hajj Committee, including the leader of the delegation Naa Seidu, who is a member of the council of state, the Deputy women and Children Affairs Minister, Hawawu Gariba Boya, and the Spokesperson of the Hajj Committee, Alidu Haruna all �absconded� to Accra, leaving the stranded pilgrims to their fate. According them, within the one week that they have been left high and dry, the leadership of the Hajj committee has provided Meals for them only on two occasions. In the first instance, a day�s meal was provided for them on Saturday, December, 12. The Ghanaian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, in his bid to help salvage the situation also gave each pilgrim a cash amount of five riyal (equivalent to GH� 2.OO). The Pilgrims also paid tribute to a high Court Judge in Saudi Arabia who reportedly dished out $600 to ensure that the people, in groups of four, received a full chicken each and a sizeable amount of rice. In all, 360 pilgrims, dwelling in Medina, benefited from the High Court judge�s philanthropy. It is unclear what the situation is with the remaining 40, who are also stranded in Mecca.