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A former member of the Hajj Board is denying claims by the current board chairman that previous managers incurred a 30 million dollar debt in executing last year’s pilgrimage.

Alhassan Suhuyini admits the Board which he was part of left a debt but denies the quantum mentioned by the new Board Chair Sheik IC Quaye.

IC Quaye in an interview with Joy news attributed the debt partly to a long protocol list that escorted pilgrims to Mecca in 2016. Advertisement

He expressed concern the debt could hamper planning for this year's pilgrimage.

But Alhassan Suhuyini who is also MP for Tamale North says the claim can't be accurate. He explains.

“It is not true that the Hajj Board left a debt of that tune. What we know of is that government decided to subside the hajj operations. It decided to give Hajj Board a special exchange rate which the government made up the difference for,” he explained.

When he was asked if government honoured its promise of paying the difference, he said; “That is where the issue is. If the government owes the Hajj Board, you don’t call that a debt left behind.

“It is actually money owed to Hajj Board by the government of Ghana. He challenged the Vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who is a Muslim to champion the cause of Muslims.

“If we had a Christian president who championed this and did this for Muslims, the challenge is for the Vice President who campaigned on the note of being a Muslim to honour that commitment that the Christian president made so they have smooth operations,” he said.