This year’s Ramadan fasting is expected to start on Thursday, March 23 or March 24, 2023, depending on the day the new moon will be sighted.

If the moon is sighted on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, then fasting will begin the next day, however, if the moon is sighted on March 23, then March 24 shall automatically be the first day of the 2023 Ramadan.

This was contained in a com­munique issued at the close of the 29th National Ramadan Confer­ence held in Cape Coast, Central Region on Tuesday.

The two-day conference held on the theme “Consolidating the Unity of Muslim Ummah for National Development,” was attended by Islamic scholars, Muslim chiefs and Regional Chief Imams, among other dignitaries.

The Deputy National Secretary of the Hilal Committee, Alhaji Baba N. Dawud, who signed the communique bemoaned the sharp increase of the 2023 hajj fare from GH¢40,000.00 to GH¢75,000.00, being an 87.5 percent increase.

“We observe with shock that this is a skyrocketing fare slapped on the voiceless prospective pilgrims. We are however reliably informed that there has not been any increase in taxes, prices of goods and services in Saudi Arabia to call for this skyrocketed hajj fare. As a matter of urgency, we request a full publication of the cost elements which composed this fare and the rationale behind each element as required by the Principles of Transparency in Islamic Trade Transactions,” the communique said.

The conference is demanding a serious review of the hajj fare in a stakeholder consultative conference taking into consideration the nega­tive impact on the socio-economic development of families and youth empowerment.

It also appealed to the Muslim caucus in parliament to pursue the matter for the comfort and welfare of the people they represent in parliament.

Touching on the Bawku crisis, the communique called on the office of the Ministry of Religious and Chieftaincy affairs and the Interior Ministry to intervene and not to interfere in the chieftaincy dispute in Bawku in the Upper East Region to promote peaceful coexistence among the people.

“We are also calling on the National Commission on Small Arms to intensify the sensitisa­tion programme on the inherent dangers associated with possession of illegal small arms. A life lost is a life gone forever. This is urgent and must be given the necessary urgency it deserves,” it said.

The communique is also calling on Muslims in Ghana to throw their support behind the Zakat and Sadaqat Trust Fund of Ghana which seeks to channel its charitable disbursement to support education, promote economic empowerment and support the country’s sector.

Touching on the relevance of Technical and Vocational Ed­ucation Training (TVET), the conference underscored the need for parents to attach a great deal of importance to TVET as it was a venture that could provide the youth with employable skills.

It also urged government to review the Quota System in the Public Colleges of Education which limits admission to only 300 students, saying the system would dampen the spirit of prospective teachers and qualified students who sought to pursue the course of study in the Colleges of Education at the time when the country was in pressing need of their services.