Sammy Gyamfi’s claim that Dr Bawumia increased Hajj fare to GHS 75k false

On March 3, 2025, the Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Commission (PMMC), Sammy Gyamfi, said the former vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, increased the Hajj fare to GHS75,000 from GHS11,000.

Sammy Gyamfi made the claim on Asempa FM’s Ekosii sen programme.

“When Dr Bawumia assumed office, the Hajj Pilgrimage, which is very important to Muslims cost them about 11,000 cedis. Alhaji Bawumia looked in the eyes of Allah and increased the Hajj fare to GHS75,000 for just one individual. Less than two months after a better government came into power, the Hajj fare has been reduced by GHS13,000. Do you know the number of cement bags 13,000 Ghana cedis can buy?”

Fact-check Ghana has verified this claim and presents the findings below.

Claim: “When Dr Bawumia assumed office, the Hajj Pilgrimage, which is very important to Muslims cost them about 11,000 cedis. Alhaji Bawumia looked in the eyes of Allah and increased the Hajj fare to GHS75,000 for just one individual.”

Verdict: False

Explanation

Fact-check Ghana’s analysis shows that the cedi’s performance relative to other foreign currencies is the main reason for the increase in hajj fares over the years.

The cost of the Hajj fare in dollars was constant from 2013 to 2018. Muslim pilgrims were paying $3,450 in those years. However, given the constant depreciation of the cedi against the dollar, Ghanaian Hajj pilgrims had to pay more. The cost of hajj fares in Ghana cedis increased from GHS6,800 in 2013 to GHS11,900 in 2014 to 2016.

Supporting the fact that exchange rate difference accounted for the changes in Hajj fares in Ghana, the Executive Secretary of the National Hajj Committee (NHC), Mr Abdulai Nashiru, in 2014, pointed out that the Hajj pilgrimage fares were likely to go up after that year’s deadline due to the issues. He explained that “the advance payments were made by the committee’s bankers and was based on current exchange rate.”

In 2017, each pilgrim paid GHS15,000 although the Hajj fare had remained $3,450. The following year, in 2018, the Hajj Board indicated to the agents of the pilgrims that the pilgrimage would cost GHS19,500, even though the Hajj fare in dollars had not changed. But Dr Bawumia came out to say that the government was maintaining the cost for the previous year, which was GHS15,000. Nonetheless, in 2019, the cost to participate in the pilgrimage rose to GHS19,500.

The pilgrimage fare stayed at GHS19,500 until it jumped to 39,000 in 2022. Regardless of the hike, the chairman of the Hajj Board at the time, Sheikh I.C. Quaye, said that the government had cut down the cost by 45 percent.

The problem of exchange rates influencing the cost of Hajj is not only in Ghana. In 2023, the Vanguard Nigeria published an article titled “interrogating the global rise in cost of Hajj” that explained how the exchange rate was causing an “astronomical increase in the cost of performing” Hajj for Muslims around the world.

“For example, if an American Muslim living in California paid $7,500 for services associated with hajj in Saudi Arabia, a Nigerian Muslim living in Lagos will have to pay N3, 453, 600 for the same service at the exchange rate of N460 to one dollar – provided they receive same services – the cost of accommodation, Air ticket, feeding, Transportation within Saudi Arabia, services in Mashair and Basic Travelling allowance. Pilgrims from Ghana will pay 91,947 Ghana cedi or 28,173.85 Saudi Riyal equivalent sum,” the article noted.

In 2023, the Ghana Hajj Board announced GHS75,000 as the Hajj fare. This was after the Hajj fare had increased to $6,500. A letter signed by the Board Chairman, Hon Ben Abdallah Banda and the Executive Secretary Alh Faroul Hamza indicated that “the Ghana Hajj Board wishes to announce for the information of prospective Pilgrims that this year’s hajj package fee has been pegged at $6,500 which translates to GHC 75,000.” The government maintained the GHS75,000 cost in 2024.

From the above, it is evident that although it is true that the Hajj fare went up to GHS75,000 by the time the New Patriotic Party left office, it is false that Dr Bawumia unilaterally increased the fare. The records show that the erstwhile NPP government actually subsidized the Hajj fare at some point. Therefore, Sammy Gyamfi’s claim that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia increased the Hajj fare to GHS75,000 from GHS11,000 is false.