2023-05-21 00:42:40
The state must stop the gluttony of the private sector
Every Muslim in the world aspires to make the pilgrimage to Mecca all his life, or at least once in his life. This does not mean that as soon as one performs the pilgrimage once, one should not do it several times. Going to Mecca once is a must. But the other times it is to do the “nafila”. When one prays between dusk and the last evening prayer, one can stay in the mosque and do a few extra “rakkas”, which constitutes “nafilas”. It’s the same as with Ramadan because, following the end of the month of Ramadan, you can fast when you want, although it’s not compulsory, it’s a form of “nafila”. Also, going to Mecca several times is like performing “nafilas”. If God has to pay the Muslim for his faith and his pilgrimage, then it is beneficial to make several pilgrimages, as much as one can. The Muslim lives in the hope that all his acts of devotion will be rewarded by God, so if he multiplies his pilgrimages, he has the hope that each time God adds a few points to him. Even if he knows that it is not easy, he hopes that each of his actions will be rewarded in positive points. God does not impose on anyone to make several pilgrimages if he does not have the means, but if he has the means, nothing prevents him from going to Mecca as many times as he can.
But it turns out that Senegal is one of the countries where the price of the package for the pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the most expensive in the world. Here in Africa, ticket prices for Mecca vary between 2,500,000 and 3 million. In Côte d’Ivoire alone, for example, the ticket price is 2 million for flights chartered by the State. If there is speculation, it is therefore the fact of the private sector. In Cameroon and Niger it is the same, the prices do not reach 3 million. To fool their world, some private Senegalese invent all sorts of mystifying pretexts such as the fact that their pilgrims are staying in 5-star hotels to justify the high cost of the package. Does a pilgrim go to Mecca to stay in 5 star hotels? The pilgrimage is an act of faith and sacrifice. Is staying in a 5 star hotel an act of sacrifice? One cannot go to Mecca without suffering a little, without experiencing fatigue. It is these sacrifices that give meaning to the pilgrimage, because even the Prophet (PSL) suffered a lot while making the pilgrimage. But if a pilgrim wants to go sightseeing, stay in the most beautiful hotels, buffet, close to the Kaaba, he does not suffer. This kind of pilgrimage is too easy because everything is close at hand. Because making the pilgrimage is an act of faith and devotion. However, an act of faith is of devotion supposes sacrifices, suffering. It is therefore because some people think that the pilgrimage is like doing tourism, that private operators take advantage of it to display exorbitant prices. And the state lets it go by completely disengaging from the pilgrimage. This therefore means that he washes his hands of it.
However, if he continued to transport pilgrims himself, he would enter into competition with the private individuals and between the private individuals themselves who, in this case, will no longer be able to display the prices they like. But if the State is not part of the competition, the private sector will agree among themselves and set the prices they want. If one of them sets his package at 5 million, the others will then offer the same price. Who in our country can afford to pay 5 million or more to perform Hajj? Not to mention that it is also necessary to have pocket money to make purchases and gifts to offer on the way back, at the end of the pilgrimage. In any case, those who can do it are not many. And the 5 million that the pilgrim spends goes entirely into the pocket of the private sector. If this continues, only the rich will make the pilgrimage, the middle class will not have the means to accomplish this gesture of devotion obligatory for all Muslims.
It is therefore appropriate to denounce, or even to demystify, the fact of wanting to accommodate pilgrims in 5-star hotels. Because it is a way of aping Westerners who, for their tourist policy, offer to accommodate pilgrims in luxury hotels. However, pilgrimage is not tourism. Nobody is obliged to stay in big hotels because, in Mecca, there is something for every budget, the pilgrim can stay where he wants according to his means. There are quality hotels but they are not expensive. Moreover, most Asians and Africans stay in this type of hotel which does not have a star but which is of very good quality with all the amenities that the pilgrim wishes to have within reach and close to the Kaaba. . So why are the Senegalese not housed in these places? There are even houses which welcome pilgrims, luxurious houses like those of the Almadies and which do not cost much to rent for the duration of a pilgrimage. It is there that the Burkinabés or the Ivorians are housed, in any case many Africans. Why not us ?
In any case, the price of the package must be revised downwards because it is too high.
This year, the quota granted to Senegal is 12,860 pilgrims out of which the State only conveys 1,860 of them. All the 11,000 pilgrims who remain will be escorted by private individuals who, as a result, organize a tacit agreement between them and set prices that are too high.
This year, the first private flight to convey pilgrims will take off from June 8. But the first flight organized by the State will only take to the air on June 14. But in many planes, there are mixed flights. That is to say that in these planes, there are pilgrims escorted by the State and others escorted by the private sector. This means that they pay the plane ticket at the same price. In fact what increases the price of the package is not the plane ticket but the other services offered, that is to say the hotel. And yet the pilgrims escorted by the State are sometimes lodged in better hotels than those of certain private individuals. So how to justify that the State conveys its pilgrims with a package which is 3,950,000 all inclusive (travel and hotels) while the private sector offers a package of 5,400,000? And how to understand that among the private individuals themselves, some lodge their pilgrims in houses, others in 5-star hotels when the price of their packages is the same?
In our country as in all countries, it is the State which sets and regulates all prices, those of rice, oil, rent and even matchboxes. But why does it not regulate the prices of packages for the pilgrimage to Mecca? He has to because it’s a commercial market. So the State must not let the private sector lay down the law and impose their prices as they see fit. In many Asian and even African countries, it is the state that sets a ceiling price, a bar that cannot be crossed. This is the case in Chad and Niger.
In Senegal, therefore, the State must regulate prices. In many African countries like the Ivory Coast or Cameroon, the State even subsidizes the pilgrimage. Also this year, Ivorian pilgrims who take the government channel pay only 2 million. Why does Senegal not do the same by subsidizing the Hajj? Or at the very least regulate the prices of plane tickets by removing taxes? If the prices of plane tickets are zero-rated, the price of the package will necessarily become cheaper. Our country is 95% Muslim and therefore 95% of our annual national budget is funded by Muslims in revenue so why shouldn’t the state subsidize Muslims who wish to go to Mecca?
Besides, you should know that some private individuals are like intermediaries who live on the backs of the Senegalese. They are like those “tefankés” who take beef from the breeder at a low price, resell it to the butcher at a much higher price, who resells the kilo to the consumer at too high a price. They are like those “coxeurs” who seek customers for the carrier and get paid out of the passenger’s money. So private companies live on the backs of their clients, on the backs of Islam. It must be vigorously denounced. Above all, we must denounce the myth of 5-star hotels because most Senegalese who go to Mecca live here in very modest houses, some even live in shacks and want to stay in 5-star hotels, whereas in Senegal they pull the devil by the tail. Above all, we must stop offering pilgrims accommodation in luxury hotels. It is true that those who can afford it can afford it, but it is not within the reach of the simple “goorgoolous” who dream of luxury without having the means. If the pilgrims are not accommodated in 5-star hotels and the price of the plane ticket is zero-rated, then the price of the package (hotel Makka and Medina, plane ticket, Saudi taxes of the tents in Mina and Arafat, catering , internal bus transfer etc.) will be affordable for everyone who wants to go to the holy places.
Our compatriots who live in Europe also complain to us when we meet in Mecca because they find that we pay too much to make the pilgrimage. They, those who live in Germany, France or Italy, spend 1,500 euros, or less than a million Cfa, to do the “Oumra” (two weeks) by staying in 5-star hotels close to the Kaaba and to the Hajj 5000 euros (3 million Cfa).
While Senegalese privates ask for the Oumra at the very least 2,800,000 Cfa for ten days (apart from Cheikhouna Faye de Safir tour which conveys for the Oumra at 1,500,000 Cfa) and, for the Hajj, the other privates ask between 4,500. 000 and up to 7 million Cfa for three weeks. All this disorder is caused by the conglomeration of operators: there are indeed several groups that bring pilgrims to Mecca, including GIEs, brotherhood Dahiras, corporate professional associations (State directorates and companies), etc. And all these fine people want to display the same prices as the official travel agencies with the IATA license or private conveyors who do not have the same charges as these operators. These small operators lodge their pilgrims in modest residences while the IATA travel agencies pay the high price for luxury hotels. They cannot therefore offer the same prices but, curiously, their package is aligned with those of the IATA agencies, which is paradoxical.
The state does not subsidize anything, it only satisfies its political clientele. Already there are three general delegates for the pilgrimage. The first has the rank of minister and the third deputy is a political leader of Benno Bokk Yaakar. Why three general delegates for a single organization when only the general delegate was enough, who will be supported by an assistant and his coordinator.
For air transport, the State must launch a call for tenders and select the highest bidder among the bidders, which will help to lower the price of the package. In the same way, it is necessary that the general delegation of the pilgrimage strives to check the product sheets and controls the hotels of each private agency in Makka and Medina.
Anyway, the price of the package must be revised considerably downwards, it is at this price that the average Senegalese will be able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
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