A committee that was tasked with organising and facilitating Kenyans travelling for the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca will meet to finalise an evaluation report.
The team will share experiences and make recommendations on improvements to be made in the future.
Garissa Supkem chairman Abdullahi Salat told reporters in Garissa on Thursday that Muslims should use the opportunity to give their views.
"Unlike previous trips where pilgrims encountered difficulties, the trip was smooth this time around," Salat said.
He is the national organising secretary for the committee.
The first batch of pilgrims travelled to Mecca on July 26 and the second group on August 5. A total of 4,330 pilgrims made the trip this year.
The government this year decided to organise the trip following cases of Kenyans getting stranded in Saudi Arabia in previous tours.
The state said all Muslims who wanted to travel were to be vetted upon application for passports.
Salat was among those who opposed the vetting, saying it discriminatory and an infringement on the people's rights. He said there was no need to vet a Kenyan with an ID card.
Salat had the time wondered why a person who had been vetted and issued with an ID card be subjected to the exercise when acquiring a passport.
“I want to say that unlike in the previous years when it was difficult for Muslim faithful to acquire passports to travel to Mecca, we dint encounter such difficulties this year. The government was very supportive,” Salat said.
Ibrahim Khalif called on the committee to get rid of travel brokers who conned some pilgrims. The conmen had promised the victims they would facilitate their acquisition of visas.
“We need to seal all the loopholes being used by these conmen to fleece people,” Khalif said.
edited by peter obuya
