A senior reporter of the Accra-based newspaper- Daily Guide, Abdulai Rahman Alhassan Gomda has been appointed director of communications of the Hajj Board.

And the former Member of Parliament for Ayawaso Central constituency in the Greater Accra Region , Shiekh I.C Quaye has been named as Chairman of the new Hajj board constituted by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. A statement issued by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin indicated that the President had appointed 14 persons to serve on the board.

The 14 members include a medical head, head of communications and head of I.T.

Others members on the board includes the National Coordinator of Nasara wing of the New Patriotic Party, Kamal-Deen Abdulai

Below is the list of members of the board;

Sheikh I.C. Quaye (Chairman)

Abdul Malik Adams Gariba (Member)

Mr. Farouk Hamza (Member)

Sheikh Amin Bonsu (Member)

Alhaji Inusa Amadu (Member)

Mr. Kamal-Deen Abdulai (Member)

Ismaela Ibrahim (Member)

Mohammadu Osmanu Alidu (Member)

Mohammed Osumanu Yunusah (Member)

Mr. Braimah Adams (Member)

Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed (Member)

The others are;

Dr. Seidu Zakaria (Head, Medical)

Abdulai Rahman Alhassan Gomda (Head, Communications)

Dr. Sani Abduai (Head, I.T.)

The appointment of the 14 persons to serve on the board comes at a time when there is a reported debt of $23 million on government from the previous administration.

Sources in government told Citi News that, Flynas, formerly Nas Air, a domestic and international low-cost airline based in Saudi Arabia, is owed the highest amount out of the larger sum.

The situation has cast doubt over the smooth process for this year’s pilgrimage since the airline may refuse to airlift Ghanaian pilgrims.

It is unclear how the immediate past National Democratic Congress government accrued the debt. Each pilgrim for the 2016 Hajj was expected to pay $3,500 or its equivalent of GHc11, 900.

Meanwhile the immediate past Chairman of the National Hajj Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdul has said that his administration will give a full account of the situation to the new Hajj committee that will be taking over from them, explaining that some debt has been left but it was not new and alarming, as far as organizing Hajj in the past is concerned.